Heike Freund is Chief Operating Officer of Marvel Fusion, a startup developing fusion power plants.
(Photo: Marvel Fusion, Getty)
Germany is just painfully learning how important a secure energy supply is for an industrialized country. It is therefore right that politicians are looking for ways to improve the tense supply situation in the short term. But that alone is not enough – we have to think ahead today.
If we want to solve the existential energy question for Germany as an industrial location and at the same time want to combat climate change as quickly as possible, we need additional safe and clean solutions – such as nuclear fusion can be.
For several years, start-ups have been pushing fusion technology alongside government projects. In the meantime, more than 30 private companies worldwide are in the process of developing commercial fusion power plants.
Analysts estimate the market potential of fusion technology at $40 trillion
Some want to prove within the next three years that their fusion technology can deliver energy. The recent progress made by a large number of different technologies suggests that the ambitious schedules of the start-ups are more than just empty promises.
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Accordingly, venture capitalists and corporations like Google have invested over $2.8 billion in the burgeoning merger industry in 2021 alone. Analysts estimate the global market potential of fusion technology at 40 trillion US dollars.
The US government is generously supporting research into fusion energy: under US President Joe Biden, 1.3 billion dollars have already been invested in various fusion approaches since the beginning of 2021. The US Senate’s recently passed inflation-reducing bill provides an additional $280 million to spur construction of fusion energy research facilities.
There are several ways to generate electricity from fusion power plants
Europe should take this as an example. The fact that of the more than 30 fusion start-ups, 21 are active in the USA and only three in Europe is also due to the different state incentives.
Although the EU also supports fusion research, it relies almost exclusively on the large-scale Iter project: between 2021 and 2027 it intends to invest more than five billion euros in this project. Iter relies on simulating the processes in the sun using strong magnetic fields.
Similar to the sun, atomic nuclei fuse in fusion power plants, releasing large amounts of energy. But there are several ways to generate electricity from fusion power plants.
Fusion produces no radioactive waste or greenhouse gases
Some start-ups are pursuing completely different approaches and are using modern laser technology to fuse atomic nuclei. High-energy laser pulses can effectively transfer energy into small propellant globules, triggering fusion reactions.
>> Read here: Breakthrough in nuclear fusion: Record energy at the research reactor Jet
The most recent advances in the development of short-pulse lasers make it possible to fulfill this promise of fusion in a much shorter time and at significantly lower costs.
The latest technologies also allow the use of proton-boron fuel for the first time. As a fusion product, this only has helium – without producing long-lived radioactive waste or greenhouse gases. By using laser-based approaches with proton-boron as a fuel, safe and clean electricity could be produced in a decentralized manner.
If Europe invests wisely today and initiates support measures for fusion technology now, the world’s first fusion power plant could soon be supplying energy on our continent. In doing so, we would set the course for the coming decades by making a significant contribution to climate protection and achieving the urgently needed energy sovereignty.
Europe can advance laser-based fusion technologies
Germany should play a key role in the development and industrialization of fusion technology because, as the largest industrialized country in Europe, we are particularly dependent on cheap and reliable electricity. And as one of the world’s leading research locations, we can do a lot to ensure that the promise of mergers can soon be kept.
The prerequisites for this are excellent: Europe has excellent knowledge and a first-class infrastructure to advance laser-based fusion technologies.
For example, the European Light Infrastructure (Eli) in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania and the Center for Advanced Laser Applications (Cala) at the LMU in Garching are among the best laser laboratories in the world.
And with Trumpf and Thales, the leading manufacturers of industrial short-pulse laser systems are also based in Germany and France. If Germany and Europe were to exploit this potential, the first fusion power plants could be supplying electricity as early as the 2030s. So what are we waiting for?
The author:
Heike Freund is Chief Operating Officer of Marvel Fusion, a startup developing fusion power plants.
More: Bavaria promotes laser nuclear fusion to generate electricity