On 14 March, the European Commission held the first “High-Level Roundtable on Fostering Innovation for Fusion energy in Europe’’, hosted by Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Iliana Ivanova, with participation from FIA CEO Andrew Holland and other key leaders in the fusion industry and public sector.
On March 12, the Energy Subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee held a Congressional hearing on “Bridging the Valley of Death: ARPA-E’s Role in Developing Breakthrough Technologies”. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) program has helped accelerate the development of a multitude of breakthrough technologies, including fusion energy.
The U.S. government will increase funding for fusion energy research to $790 million for the Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences.
On January 22, the Fusion Industry Association officially expanded into the European Union, appointing Cyrille Mai Thanh of Dentons Global Affairs as its new Director for the EU, based in Brussels
On January 11, the Fusion Industry Association sent a letter to Secretary of Energy Granholm to express support for increasing funding and prioritizing commercialization of fusion energy in the 2025 budget request that will soon be delivered to Congress.
The Fusion Industry Association (FIA) is the unified voice of the fusion industry, working to transform the energy system with commercially viable fusion power. It represents the interests of its members; the private companies that are commercializing clean, safe, available fusion energy. We are seeking a leader who could be the voice of the private fusion energy industry, reporting directly to the CEO.
The US announced “International Partnerships in a New Era of Fusion Energy Development”, issuing five goals for international partnership and collaboration opportunities on the way to fusion commercialization.
On October 26, 2023, the UK’s Energy Act 2023 gained Royal Assent and was enacted to strengthen the UK’s long-term energy security and support affordable clean energy. The UK will become the first country to legislate for fusion regulation, which will foster the growth of the domestic fusion industry in support of the UK’s goal for a prototype fusion power plant by 2040.
On November 21, the European Parliament adopted its position on the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), amending the initial proposal of the Commission to include “fusion energy technologies” among the net-zero technologies in their aims to boost decarbonization efforts in Europe. The Act sets a target for Europe to produce 40% of its annual deployment needs in net-zero technologies by 2030, to capture 25% of the global market value for these technologies, and to address challenges in scaling up these technologies’ manufacturing capacities.
A bipartisan letter signed by 72 Members of Congress, requesting increased funding into the commercialization of fusion energy, was sent to the House Appropriations Committee on October 31.