The Department of Energy has awarded $32M in total funds to 15 projects that aim to build and commercialize fusion power generation systems as part of the Breakthroughs Enabling THermonuclear-fusion Energy program.
BETHE researchers will work to develop approaches and component technologies to increase the performance and lower the capital cost of fusion concepts, DOE said Tuesday.
Funding recipients will also form capability teams to update current modeling, diagnotics and machine learning tools to speed up concept development work.
The department seeks to expand the number of privately funded fusion companies and drive the commercialization of fusion energy through the BETHE program.
“Commercially viable fusion energy can improve our chances of meeting global energy demand and will further establish U.S. technological lead in this crucial area,” said Lane Genatowski, director of DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University secured $2.4M to test fusion concepts through computational plasma modeling techniques, while the University of Wisconsin-Madison received $5M to demonstrate a transformative approach for linear fusion technology.
Click here to view the full list of awardees.