World’s first commercial fusion power plant planned for Chesterfield

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a Massachusetts-based fusion energy company, plans to build the world’s first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday.

“It’s a nearly $3 billion capital investment, paying taxes, and it’s a bunch of really high-tech jobs,” Garrett Hart, Chesterfield’s director of economic development, said Tuesday.

Dubbed ARC, the project is expected to be in operation in the early 2030s, according to CFS co-founder and CEO Bob Mumgaard. The project is designed to run for 20 years or more, Youngkin said Tuesday.  It will be located at the James River Industrial Center, a site owned by Dominion Energy, and is expected to create hundreds of temporary construction and permanent jobs. The permanent roles will include operators, electricians, pipe fitters, mechanics and technicians, Youngkin said.

Spun out of MIT in 2018, CFS is the biggest of more than 40 companies currently pursuing fusion technologies. It has raised more than $2 billion in capital from high-profile investors including Google, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Tiger Global, Khosla Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital.

“This will add to our existing infrastructure in a way that I think will provide a new frontier — a new frontier for Virginia businesses and Virginia residents,” Youngkin said Tuesday. “My friends, the future can be seen, and what Commonwealth Fusion Systems will be building will be that pathway to the future.”

According to the governor’s announcement, CFS “conducted a global search” for the site of its first commercial fusion power plant, which will produce about 400 megawatts of carbon-free electricity, enough to power large industrial projects or about 150,000 homes. The siting process took more than two years, Mumgaard said Tuesday.

Historically, fusion has been restricted to labs; the Chesterfield facility will mark the start of an entirely new power industry, he said.

“In the early 2030s, all eyes will be on the Richmond region, and more specifically Chesterfield County, as the birthplace of commercial fusion energy,” Mumgaard said in a statement. “Virginia emerged as a strong partner as they look to implement innovative solutions for both reliable electricity and clean forms of power. We are pleased to collaborate with Dominion Energy.”

Chesterfield County also will benefit from the publicity of being “the first locality in the world to start the fusion revolution,” Hart said. “There’s only one; there’ll only be one place. It’ll always be us, and 50 years from now, they’ll be like, ‘Yep, Chesterfield County’s where it all started.’”

The county is also considering forming an innovation hub-like structure for the area, but nothing is formalized, according to Chesterfield economic development officials.

Previously, Dominion said it planned to build a gas-powered power plant at the James River Industrial Center, but in August, it changed plans to move the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center to the adjacent existing Chesterfield Power Station site on Coxendale Road.

According to a document from Chesterfield County, “Dominion owns the land and has agreed to lease it to CFS. And in a nonfinancial collaboration, Dominion will provide CFS with development and technical expertise, while CFS will provide Dominion insight about fusion power plant technology.” Dominion is not investing in the project and does not have an agreement to purchase power from the plant when operational, according to a corporate spokesperson.

“Commonwealth Fusion Systems is the clear industry leader in advancing the exciting energy potential of fusion,” said Dominion Energy Virginia President Edward H. Baine. “Our customers’ growing needs for reliable, carbon-free power benefits from as diverse a menu of power generation options as possible, and in that spirit, we are delighted to assist CFS in their efforts.”

 The ARC plant will be independently financed, owned, built and operated by CFS. The company expects to sell ARC power to large industrial/commercial customers through purchase power agreements, according to a Chesterfield document, so Virginia residents and businesses won’t pay for the plant.

The company, which has secured $16.5 million in the U.S. Department of Energy grants, is completing its fusion demonstration machine, nicknamed SPARC, at its headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts, and it is expected to produce its first plasma in 2026 and net fusion energy shortly afterward, according to the governor’s news release. SPARC will require a series of 18 high-temperature superconductor magnets, which the company is developing.

The Virginia Department of Energy partnered with Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Chesterfield County and Dominion Energy to secure this project, and the Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank allocated a $1 million grant matched with local funds from Chesterfield County.

“On top of that, Chesterfield County has offered to provide $10 million of longer term support,” Youngkin told reporters, “and then the state has confirmed through the Department of Taxation that the equipment that goes inside the plant will be exempt from sales and use tax, just like the equipment in a data center or an indoor farm or other power plants, and that has resulted in [Commonwealth Fusion Solutions] being very comfortable moving into Virginia.

The 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act created a 2050 mandate for generating electricity statewide from renewable, carbon-free energy sources. In 2022, Youngkin announced a state energy plan that endorsed an “all-of-the-above” mix of energy sources, including hydrogen, natural gas and nuclear power, in addition to the wind, solar and battery storage supported by Virginia Democrats.

Dominion Energy’s $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is expected to be completed in 2026, and the utility called for more offshore wind and solar energy development, as well as small modular nuclear reactors, in a 2024 filing with the Virginia State Corporation Commission and the North Carolina Utilities Commission. In July, Dominion Energy officials announced they were issuing a request for proposals for an SMR at its North Anna nuclear power plant in Louisa County.