Type One Energy Begins Testing Advanced Fusion Magnet for Stellarators
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#CFS–Type One Energy announced today that early results from its testing campaign confirm the essential design elements of the company’s groundbreaking high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet for use in stellarators. Powerful, modular, HTS magnets for use in modern stellarator machines are an essential feature of the characteristics which make this technology today’s lowest-risk, shortest-path approach to commercially viable fusion energy.
The company successfully conducted an accelerated 18-month development program for the world’s most advanced modular HTS stellarator magnets. This program was based on the company’s access to the proven Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) VIPER technology for HTS cables in stellarator fusion magnets, for which it indirectly received exclusive rights via a sub-license from Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), as previously announced on February 11th, 2025. With strong technical leadership from Type One Energy co-founder and Engineering Fellow, David Anderson, the company built on the foundation of MIT’s technology to design and construct a proprietary, full fidelity technology prototype of its HTS magnet. This prototype includes, among other characteristics, the limiting magnet geometry of its Infinity Two power plant. The prototype’s technology has become part of the baseline design for the potential Infinity Two fusion power plant project being developed for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
By taking advantage of a decade’s worth of basic R&D performed by MIT, together with access to certain additional VIPER technology utilization capabilities, Type One Energy has been able to significantly derisk and compress the development timeline for its own advanced HTS magnets. This programmatic approach to technology development is part of the company’s strategy to take the most capital efficient, lowest-risk, shortest-schedule to fusion commercialization. Because this program was almost entirely conducted by an in-house HTS magnet technology team, it also ensures that Type One Energy retains primary ownership of all the new HTS magnet technology it develops.
“Our industry-first agreement with an end-customer for power generation technology, TVA, is market validation that Type One Energy’s strategy for fusion commercialization resonates”, said Christofer Mowry, CEO of Type One Energy. “The combination of our corporate strategy, fusion technology platform, organizational capabilities, and partnerships is what the global energy industry finds compelling about Type One Energy.”
The tests which Type One Energy announced today validate the performance of its own derivative VIPER technology when used in the complex geometric shapes of a modular stellarator magnet. These tests were performed at a temperature of 77K, well below the threshold for transition to HTS superconductivity. Under the leadership of Jenelle Canny, who manages the Type One Energy HTS Magnet Development Program, the company performed these tests in its Woburn, MA laboratory. They mark the beginning of an extensive magnet performance evaluation campaign, which will move to the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) later this spring. The testing campaign will include performance evaluations at lower temperatures and ultimately push the prototype magnet to its limits over the summer.
“In my prior leadership role at W7-X, the world’s leading operational stellarator, we proved the science underpinning modern optimized stellarators, and I realized that when combined with powerful HTS magnets, they open a direct path to fusion commercialization,” said Thomas Sunn Pedersen, Chief Technology Officer at Type One Energy. “That realization, combined with the strong relationship Type One Energy has with MIT, brought me to this company and us to this milestone.”
“I am excited to see the innovative HTS technology we developed at MIT for tokamaks now being adapted to develop an advanced high-field magnet for use in stellarators,” said Dennis Whyte, Hitachi America Professor of Engineering at MIT. “Stellarators are a very promising technology approach for fusion commercialization given their inherent stability and steady-state operating characteristics, but they need HTS magnets to make them practical and economic. It is very encouraging that in a relatively short period of time, Type One Energy has built their first HTS magnet.”
Contacts
Media Contact:
Andrea Schneibel, Communications Manager
Phone: +1 608-616-5965
E-mail: andrea.schneibel@typeoneenergy.com
