TVA developing plans with Type One Energy for fusion plant

Wednesday, 12 February 2025

Type One Energy said the 350 MWe fusion pilot power plant - named Infinity Two - offers a complementary source of base load electrical generation for the region as early as the mid-2030s. It has the potential to repurpose retired Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) fossil fuel power plant infrastructure in addition to being deployed onto greenfield sites in support of energy security and reliability.

The cooperative agreement expands on Project Infinity, first launched by Type One Energy, TVA and the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in February 2024, with support from the state of Tennessee. Originally centred on deploying the Type One Energy Infinity One stellarator prototype in TVA's Bull Run Fossil Plant in Clinton, Tennessee, Project Infinity now encompasses a deeper, broader engagement toward commercialisation of fusion energy.

Type One Energy's Infinity One is a stellarator fusion reactor - different to a tokamak fusion reactor such as the Joint European Torus in the UK or the Iter device under construction in France. A tokamak is based on a uniform toroid shape, whereas a stellarator twists that shape in a figure-8. This gets round the problems tokamaks face when magnetic coils confining the plasma are necessarily less dense on the outside of the toroidal ring.

TVA and Type One Energy will collaborate 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.

The scope of the new cooperative agreement links with a separate arrangement between the parties to access the capabilities of TVA's Power Service Shops (PSS) in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Type One Energy noted. The PSS relationship enables the company to continue shaping its supply chain for stellarator fusion power plants, with PSS supporting modular manufacturing and assembly of Infinity Two. Importantly, this arrangement would also enable TVA to benefit from the subsequent scaling of fusion energy on a global basis, following the successful deployment of Infinity Two, it said.

"We are fortunate indeed to work together with an energy company like TVA," said Type One Energy CEO Christofer 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 commercialisation."

Type One Energy also announced it has signed an agreement with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) that gives Type One Energy an exclusive licence to use CFS's high-temperature superconducting cable technology in the development of its own proprietary stellarator fusion magnets. Type One Energy said the agreement with CFS is part of a supply chain strategy to deliver Infinity Two in "a highly capital efficient manner, with minimal commercialisation risks, by establishing strong industry partnerships".