- Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) will independently finance, build, own, and operate a grid-scale fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
- Dominion Energy will provide non-financial collaboration, including development and technical expertise as well as leasing rights for the proposed site.
- This pioneering plant will generate 400 MW of continuous energy on 25 acres (total site is 100 acres). By comparison, Dominion Energy’s offshore wind project, which will include 176 turbines and 3 offshore substations, will intermittently produce (on average) 1092 MW (2600 MW x 0.42 capacity factor).
- Gov. Youngkin emphasized that the project will be financed entirely by CFS, with no costs passed on to Dominion Energy ratepayers. (Good news for us Dominion Energy customers! 😀)
Why BOE, and most everyone else, likes nuclear fusion:
- Clean and sustainable power source.
- Unlike traditional nuclear power plants that rely on fission, fusion replicates the energy-producing process of the sun.
- Modest space requirements.
- Generates four times more energy per kilogram of fuel than fission and nearly four million times more energy than burning oil or coal.
- No radioactive waste
- Safe energy source; no risk of a meltdown event
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that fusion technology, unlike fission, does not require a federal license.
Tempering the optimism a bit, the plant won’t be operational until the early 2030’s. As we all know, there could (will likely) be delays. CFS is currently building a demonstration plant in Massachusetts that will use their SPARC “tokamok” technology.
The implications of advanced nuclear technology, not only the holy grail of fusion energy, but also modular fission reactors, for intermittent wind and solar power are substantial. Ultradeep geothermal is on a similar timeframe, and could also supersede wind and solar.
The logic behind costly offshore wind projects is therefore questionable, and the regulators better make sure that the decommissioning of these facilities is fully funded. The most likely long-term scenario is for natural gas to continue meeting most power generation needs as the nuclear and ultradeep geothermal alternatives are phased in.
More about fusion. Most of you can start at Level 3. 😉
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 
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