This is a rendering of Type One Energy’s fusion stellarator.
The pursuit of energy from fusion technology has taken another step forward, with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) entering into a cooperative agreement with Type One Energy to jointly develop a fusion power plant project in TVA’s territory.
The companies announced plans to collaborate on a 350-MWe Infinity Two power plant that use Type One’s stellarator fusion technology. The groups on Feb. 10 said the project could offer baseload power generation by the mid-2030s.The project could support planned retirements of TVA power plants that burn coal and natural gas, potentially repurposing those sites. The technology also could be deployed at new locations.
The agreement expands on Project Infinity, which was launched by Type One Energy, TVA, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in early 2024. The original project centered on deploying Type One’s Infinity One stellarator prototype in TVA’s decommissioned 865-MW coal-fired Bull Run power plant. The companies on Monday said Project Infinity “now encompasses a deeper, broader engagement toward commercialization of fusion energy.” Bull Run was shut down in December 2023.
“Type One Energy is an organization that understands the global power industry, a place where many of us got started,” Christofer Mowry, CEO of Type One Energy, told POWER. “We understand how hard it is to build, operate, and maintain power plants, so the opportunity to work together with TVA on a potential fusion power plant project is an opportunity for us to remain focused on designing Infinity Two while relying on a best-in-class partner to do the other hard things well. It de-risks the mission to deploy fusion energy on the grid by the mid-2030s for all stakeholders.”
TVA and Type One Energy will jointly work on Infinity Two fusion power plant siting studies, environmental reviews, and licensing, as well as development of project plans and financing from various sources. Type One Energy will support TVA in its evaluation and review of the project.
“Unleashing America’s energy potential will take all forms of generation including fusion,” said Joe Hoagland, TVA vice president Innovation and Research. “Energy security is national security, and we are focused on developing a technology, supply chain, and delivery model to build an industry that can power America and the world.”
Type One Energy was founded in 2019. The company opened an office in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 2023. The company’s technology is touted as a stellarator fusion reactor, which is a different design than a tokamak fusion reactor. Examples of tokamak reactors include the Joint European Torus in the UK, and the ITER project under construction in France. A tokamak is based on a uniform toroid shape. A stellarator twists that shape in a figure-8 design.
The companies said the scope of the latest agreement aligns with a separate arrangement between the parties to access the capabilities of TVA’s Power Service Shops (PSS) in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The PSS relationship enables Type One Energy to continue shaping its supply chain for stellarator fusion power plants, and the PSS will support modular manufacturing and assembly of Infinity Two. The groups emphasized that the arrangement enables TVA “to benefit from the subsequent scaling of fusion energy on a global basis, following the successful deployment of Infinity Two.”
Project Infinity also includes plans for workforce development, which includes assembling a team to build, operate, and maintain fusion stellarators.
“We are fortunate indeed to work together with an energy company like TVA,” said Mowry. “TVA brings us best-in-class power plant operations, maintenance, engineering, licensing, and even project planning and construction capabilities, all skills critical to success that we now don’t need to try and recreate. Instead, we can focus on completing the design of Infinity Two and testing it with the Infinity One prototype in TVA’s Bull Run plant. The ability for us to focus on developing and delivering the core stellarator technology materially derisks our path to fusion power plant commercialization.”
