A startup in the fusion power industry has raised $87 million to fund groundbreaking energy projects. The company has its eye on powering data centers and other electrification efforts.
According to TechCrunch, the new funding brings Type One Energy's total venture investment to more than $160 million. The startup intends to develop fusion reactors that it hopes to sell to power providers in the future.
Fusion energy is often touted as offering "nearly limitless clean power," per TechCrunch. That's because reactors fuse atoms (rather than burn materials like coal, gas, or oil), which releases lots of energy and heat. That heat is used to spin the reactor's turbines, creating energy with less pollution.
Unlike fission, fusion doesn't produce large amounts of radioactive waste and poses no risk of catastrophic meltdown, explained TechCrunch. That makes fusion power a safe, reliable alternative to dirty energy sources.
In time, fusion energy could also become much more affordable than dirty energy. One of the main elements used in nuclear fusion, deuterium, can be easily extracted from seawater, said the International Atomic Energy Agency. Meanwhile, the other core element, tritium, can be made from lithium, which is also abundant.
TechCrunch added that data centers will consume three times more electricity by 2035. Additionally, electricity demand is projected to grow by 4% up to 2027. Fusion energy could be an important solution to rising energy needs.
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Type One has already signed a deal with the Tennessee Valley Authority to create a commercial power plant expected to generate 350 megawatts of electricity. However, it likely won't be online until the mid-2030s.
For now, startups and researchers worldwide will continue working to make fusion energy a reality. There have already been many successes, including new magnet technology and innovative reactor designs.
"Fusion has a great many positive attributes, and so it's been called the holy grail of energy sources," said Carlos Paz-Soldan, an associate professor at Columbia University, in a press release.
"It doesn't produce the same level of toxic by-products … has a relatively limitless fuel supply, and doesn't rely on the natural elements."
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Paz-Soldan added that funding the commercialization of fusion energy is crucial to overcoming the technological hurdles the industry faces, per Columbia University.
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