Magnetic Confinement Fusion: The Secret of the Stars on Earth

The future of carbon-free energy production reached an important milestone on 9th March, with the signing of a new collaboration agreement with @Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a spin-out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with the aim of accelerating the industrialization of #fusionenergy. 

The agreement was signed by Bob Mumgaard, CEO of CFS and @Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, who then went on a tour of the campus to explore the teams and technology behind this exciting new frontier. 

The significance of this agreement cannot be overstated, because not only will fusion energy make a substantial contribution to reaching our transition goals, but once it’s taken to an industrial level, it will revolutionise the world of energy through full scale zero-emission production.

“For Eni, magnetic confinement fusion plays a central role in technological research aimed at decarbonization, because it will allow humanity to have large quantities of energy produced in a safe, clean and virtually inexhaustible way and without any emission of greenhouse gases.”

Claudio Descalzi, Chief Executive Officer of Eni

Magnetic Confinement Fusion – the new frontier of energy production

Have you ever wondered how the Sun manages to produce so much energy? The short answer is fusion, the union of two light atoms that emit energy when they fuse together.

In simple terms, magnetic confinement fusion is based on the same physical principle that keeps the Sun 'switched on' and allows it to produce energy. However, this process is very complex to reproduce artificially on Earth, which is why obtaining energy from fusion is widely considered as one of the greatest technical challenges to date.

Eni’s reputation for technological leadership has always been driven by scientific curiosity, which is why we accepted the challenge.

Why the partnership?

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) was spun out of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center to leverage the decades of fusion research combined with the innovation and speed of the private sector.

CFS has the fastest pathway to the commercial deployment of fusion energy. In September 2021, the company reached a major milestone with the successful test of its high-temperature superconducting magnet technology: the strongest magnet of its kind in the world, which will ensure plasma confinement in the magnetic fusion process, and which has paved the way for achieving net energy from fusion in a future demonstration plant.

Eni was the first energy company to believe and invest in fusion, making its first investment in CFS in 2018, in which it remains a significant shareholder. This strategic partnership is one built on a pragmatic and progressive approach towards the deployment of magnetic confinement fusion and will leverage our global engineering and project management experience for a series of projects to support CFS in the development and deployment of the first power plant based on magnetic confinement fusion at the beginning of the next decade.

What are the steps to industrialization?

Although we face a long development pathway before this new energy source can be used on a large scale, this agreement is another great step forward and will allow us to see the first CFS power plant based on magnetic confinement fusion at the beginning of the next decade, with then almost two decades ahead to deploy the technology and achieve our energy transition goals by 2050.

SPARC, projected to become the world's first magnetic confinement pilot plant with net production of fusion energy, is currently under construction and will be operational in 2025. SPARC will pave the way for ARC – the first commercial power plant capable of feeding electricity into the grid, which is projected to be operational in the early 2030s.

Transforming a vision into reality together

For several years, we have placed technological leadership, with a neutrality and diversification approach, at the heart of our decarbonization path. Magnetic confinement fusion has a central role among the many technologies that can lead the way to global energy decarbonization.

Our forward-thinking approach and its belief in the viability of fusion energy and the soundness of CFS prompted us to build a long-term partnership and set the stage for our ongoing involvement in this ground-breaking sector.

This is an exciting time for technological innovation in the world of energy production. With this new Framework Agreement, we combine the revolutionary skills of CFS with our in-depth industrial knowledge to make a significant contribution to the energy transition and transform our vision into a reality.