When we Spring forward the light shines everywhere. At the White House Fusion Summit on March 17th, Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) offered a poetic introduction of fusion power when he said “…there was light; and that light came from fusion energy.”
Beyer, the Chair of the Congressional Fusion Caucus, gave remarks following Energy Secretary Granholm’s commitment of an agency-wide fusion energy initiative to pave the way for fusion’s commercialization. The newly established Fusion Energy initiative will be led by ECG longtime friend, Scott Hsu (formerly Fusion Program Director at ARPA-E) as Senior Advisor.
These remarks opened an extraordinary day of conversation focused on fusion, “Developing a Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy”. The introductory speakers and panel discussions were led by President Biden’s science, technology, and climate advisors and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) alongside the Department of Energy (DOE).
The day focused on the emergence of a commercializing fusion energy sector and the government’s public path in support of this mission. The fusion industry will partner with and complement existing green energy—renewables, storage solutions, and the expanding electric grid infrastructure. Fusion will also challenge fossil’s dominance in high heat production for industrial manufacturing and fuels production such as hydrogen.
ECG was honored to play a vital programmatic role in shaping the day’s events and to be present and influential in the start of so many important conversations demonstrating that the Biden Administration is “all in” on fusion.
The importance of embracing and supporting fusion as a solution to our climate crisis cannot be overstated. The timeline to a viable commercial fusion energy market—and therefore its ability to make a difference—requires a broad engagement, something that we as climate stakeholders have not attempted before.
Leaders are identifying the importance of diversity in the rollout of fusion to the public across gender, race, economic, and generational levels. Two key objectives, according to the White House, are that “the benefits of fusion are shared in equitable and just ways across our communities,” and “to bring a wide range of voices to the table for an inclusive and early conversation about the future of fusion technology.” These goals mirror the mission of ECG, and we celebrate their inclusion by the White House and DOE.
We demonstrate our commitment in all of ECG’s actions, as reflected in our growing and diverse team of advisors backed by the broad energy experience of our growing board of directors. Fusion energy is coming, as our friends in the UK have recognized, and it is, global.
In a few weeks, ECG travels to ITER to dig in with our board of directors and friends to see what the alliance of 35 international collaborators are building to represent the best in technology, science, and human capital with their goal of fusion energy. Fusion can be the demonstration of what American institutions are intended for—taking academic and scientific exploration and capturing it to benefit all, both as a climate energy source and as a vast generational economic educational and employment opportunity. We are all in this together.
As White House Summit panelist Amelia Chambliss, a recent DOE Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship student at PPPL, so eloquently said, “We’re trapping stars on planet Earth and trying to solve one of the biggest problems our planet has ever faced,” she said. “What little kid wouldn’t want to be part of that? Tomorrow’s leaders of the fusion community are out there. They just haven’t heard about it yet.”
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