RWE has invested €25 million in the funding round of Munich-based magnetic fusion start-up Proxima Fusion. RWE had already signalled its willingness to make a financial investment, in the co-operation agreement signed in February by the Free State of Bavaria, Proxima Fusion, the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) and RWE. In this agreement, the partners reaffirm their intention to collaborate towards the first commercial magnetic fusion power plant at RWE’s Gundremmingen site.
Germany would seem to offer a unique environment for nuclear fusion: highly rated research institutions, ambitious start-ups, committed industrial partners, an efficient supply chain and suitable former nuclear sites that can be utilised for fusion development. These are good conditions for gaining a decisive speed advantage in the global competition for fusion energy.
Proxima Fusion has chosen the Gundremmingen site for the development of the first commercial magnetic fusion power plant. The company, together with the IPP and with the support of the Free State of Bavaria, has submitted a bid in the federal government’s ongoing tender for a magnetic fusion hub. RWE will – if the site is awarded the contract for the magnetic fusion hub – consistently continue the decommissioning process in order to make the existing nuclear infrastructure available as early as possible for reuse in fusion-related activities. Proxima Fusion will now initiate the necessary approval process for Gundremmingen with the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment.
