U.S. fusion startup, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, raised $84 million from Singapore’s Temasek Holding, Norway’s Equinor and other investors in its latest round, according to CEO Bob Mumgaard. The company was founded by researchers at MIT in 2018 and has raised a total of more than “$200 million.” When combined with advanced computing power, Mumgaard believes nuclear fusion may be ready for prime time faster than people thought. CFS aims to show that its high-temperature superconducting magnets work at scale next year, and then hopes to build a working prototype reactor. Source: Bloomberg
North Dakota’s 300-kW Cannon Ball Community Solar Farm is bringing power to the Standing Rock Reservation: Thirty-five-year-old Cody Two Bears is the driving force behind the 300-kilowatt solar farm – North Dakota’s first, which formally opened last year – and he dreams of bringing solar-powered energy infrastructure and “energy sovereignty” to Native American reservations around the U.S. Built with the financial assistance of GivePower, Empowered by Light and Jinko Solar, the $470,000 solar farm will save the Native American community an estimated $7,000 to $10,000 annually in energy costs. Cypress Creek Renewables developed the project. Sources: Al Jazeera, Renewable Energy Magazine
Lime Rock New Energy, a Connecticut-based growth equity firm focused on renewable energy tech, is raising $600 million for its debut fund, per an SEC filing. Lime Rock recently led a $75 million round in Smart Wires, a provider of modular power flow control technology for electric utilities and grid operators. Source: Axios, Lime Rock
Six of Denmark’s biggest companies are teaming up to launch one of the world’s largest green hydrogen projects — looking to create emission-free fuels suitable for ships, trucks, aircraft and heavy industry. Container shipping group AP Moller-Maersk, airline SAS, logistics group DSV Panalpina, ferry line DFDS, Copenhagen Airports and renewable energy company Orsted are aiming to open their first hydrogen facility powered by offshore wind by 2023. Henrik Poulsen, CEO of Orsted, the world’s largest wind developer, said that while direct electrification through batteries made sense for cars it did not work for heavier forms of transport and industries such as steel and cement. Source: Financial Times
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Fusion from the Bloomberg article: “If it can be made to work, the technology comes with the advantage of creating less waste and having a near-unlimited supply of fuel.”
This article mentions $200 million in capital raised to “soldier on” in the quest for “star power”. Others in Canada have raised over $1 billion dollars to “make this happen”.
I’ve been using photon to electricity extraction technology from our own solar system fusion reactor, the sun for 15 years. No super high performance magnetic bottles designed to hold the fusion for use as a power producing generation system over “unity”. Just the existence of 93 million miles of separation and a necessary atmosphere to regulate the encompassing power of the sun. Remind me, why does this have to be so hard?
With current R&D on perovskites and tandem solar cells, the ability of self contained solar PV generation of around 11kWp up to almost 15kWp in a 400 square foot roof space will be “possible” in five years for individual consumption. Smart Energy Storage Systems, would enable self consumption of solar PV generation from the day time into the night. The upper end of a 40% solar PV capture would create a 24 hour supply for one’s home most of the time, the grid would be used as a backup from then on.
North Dakota’s 300-kW Cannon Ball Community Solar Farm is bringing power to the Standing Rock Reservation:
This is starting to trend around the U.S. right now. We have the decommissioning of the Kayenta coal mine in Arizona and the decommissioning of the NGS coal fired plant. With the Navajo Nation beginning to develop solar PV farms on the Reservation. The Moapa Indian tribe is going to have the large solar PV farm with Energy storage constructed on the reservation to basically feed Las Vegas.
SAFIRE PROJECT! Better results at a fraction the cost.
Can the “promoters” of Fusion Power please explain what happens to the Radiated/Radioactive Wastes after the 40+/- yrs of Life. The Nuclear Fission Industry went through this same “song & dance” of Assurances regarding safe disposal of Nuclear waste (that turned out to be false as we now know)…. for over 60 years now.
WHY SHOULD ANYONE ACCEPT THAT NUCLEAR FUSION RADIOACTIVE WASTE WILL NOT BE A PROBLEM….???
In any case…. WE ALREADY HAVE A MASSIVE FUSION REACTOR OPERATING FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS…. IT IS KNOWN AS THE SUN…. WHY DO WE NEED ANOTHER….
JUST HARVEST ITS ENERGY ALL OVER THE GLOBE…. WITH PV PANELS…. MORE SPECIFICALLY… AGRIVOLTAICS…. TO SUPPORT MANKINDS NEED FOR ALL ITS ENERGY NEEDS WITH A 150TW ELECTRIC SYSTEM ON <<10% OF EXISTING AGRICULTIRAL LAND.