MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) plans to build the world’s first grid-scale fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

The ARC fusion power plant is expected to come online in the early 2030s and generate about 400 MW of carbon-free electricity — sufficient to power large industrial sites or about 150,000 homes. The plant will be built at the James River Industrial Park outside of Richmond through a collaboration with Dominion Energy Virginia, which will provide development and technical expertise along with leasing rights for the site. CFS will independently finance, build, own and operate the power plant.

The company is currently completing development of its fusion demonstration machine, SPARC, at its headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts. The tokamak uses high-temperature superconductors to increase its magnetic field strength and thus make the design more compact and economically competitive. SPARC is expected to produce its first plasma in 2026 and net fusion energy shortly after, demonstrating for the first time a commercially relevant design that will produce more power than it consumes.

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