Type One Energy, a Madison-based company developing fusion energy technology, has announced plans to relocate to Tennessee.
The company will be building its Infinity One fusion prototype machine at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Fossil Plant in Clinton, according to a recent release. Construction on the device is expected to begin in 2025.
Type One Energy CEO Christofer Mowry says deploying the machine in Tennessee in partnership with the TVA and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory marks a “critical milestone” in the company’s commercialization plans.
“It is also a watershed moment toward the commercialization of fusion, linking for the first time leaders in the technology, utility and national laboratory sectors on an actual deployment project,” Mowry said in a statement on the move.
Through this project, the company aims to verify the technology’s operational efficiency, reliability, affordability and how well it can be maintained, according to the release. Type One Energy and the other partners signed an agreement in 2023 focused on exploring the potential of nuclear fusion to generate carbon-free power.
Mowry said the project will create the world’s “highest performance stellarator, offering an excellent platform for a potential long-term fusion research facility.”
Stellarators use magnetic fields to confine plasma into a donut-like shape called a torus, according to a U.S. Department of Energy overview. These fields are used to control the plasma material and create conditions that lead to fusion reactions.
While the concept of a stellarator was first invented at Princeton University in 1951, later advances in computer modeling and high-performance computing have allowed scientists to construct three-dimensional magnetic fields with the right shape for this application.
Members of Type One Energy’s technical leadership team have collectively published more than 500 scientific papers and worked on at least five stellarators, according to the company’s website. The team includes multiple specialists with ties to UW-Madison — including Chief Science Officer John Canik, who has a PhD from the university — and Profs. Chris Hegna and David Anderson.
Company leaders plan to explore other opportunities for advancing commercial applications of fusion energy in the east Tennessee region, according to the release. After establishing its headquarters there, Type One Energy says it will create more than 300 jobs within the next five years.
See the release.
–By Alex Moe
