Milena Roveda, Chair of the European Fusion Association, discusses the key actions needed to make fusion commercialisation a reality for Europe.
Across the globe, efforts to achieve fusion commercialisation are continually gaining momentum. Europe is a major contributor to such efforts and is developing a strong research and development infrastructure, fostering public-private partnerships, and aligning national and EU-level strategies.
To help support and accelerate Europe’s journey to fusion commercialisation, leading European companies across the fusion value chain formed the European Fusion Association (EFA). EFA recognises that the challenge of making industrial-scale fusion powerplants a reality is too big for one country or company to achieve alone, and supports industry-wide collaboration and co-operation on science, finance, and policy making.
The Innovation Platform spoke with Milena Roveda, Chair of the European Fusion Association, to discuss the present direction of Europe’s fusion industry and the hopes for its future.
Can you explain more about the European Fusion Association and how it is helping to accelerate fusion development in Europe?
The European Fusion Association is an international, Brussels-based, non-profit association bringing together leading European companies from across the fusion value chain. At EFA, we provide a platform that unifies European interests. We are advocating for bold political decision making and innovative policy to turn scientific progress in fusion into a commercial reality. Our mission is to kickstart a European industrial renaissance, solidifying Europe’s role as a global fusion leader.
EFA has been growing steadily since we first started, and we now represent the voices of over 45 companies in Europe.
Why is collaboration so important in the journey to fusion commercialisation?
Europe has an incredible opportunity to grasp fusion with both hands to act as an enabler for European industry to rise again. However, we recognise that the challenge of making industrial-scale fusion powerplants is too big for one country or company to achieve alone.
That’s why we pride ourselves on being run by industry, for industry, and providing a voice for European companies and interests. Industry-wide collaboration on science, financing, and policymaking is absolutely essential if we want to take fusion from the lab to the grid.
Our role is to act as a vehicle for change, going beyond just advocacy to take real action to derisk investment, as well as enabling the public-private partnerships that will make fusion a reality.
What are your key focuses at present?
We are laser focused on getting the right regulation in place to crowd investment into European fusion. For one, we have to ensure that fusion and fission are not regulated the same. There are huge differences in safety considerations, environmental impact, and the technology overall. Having tailored regulation for fusion is essential to make sure the sector is not overburdened in a way that drives up costs and stifles innovation. What we need is regulation that’s fit for purpose.
Leaning into the strengths that we have across the European fusion landscape, and leveraging the expertise across our membership, we’ve identified technology and supply chain as two distinct areas of focus for our advocacy efforts.
For both topics, we have recently established working groups with representatives and specialists from across our membership. Our purpose is to ensure that, as an industry, we’re taking a united message to policymakers across the continent, being clear about what we need to make fusion a reality and drive collaborative efforts to achieve this. There is much more to come from us on this over the following months.
How do your priorities align with European fusion goals and strategy?
I think one of the key challenges is that Europe doesn’t yet have a coherent Fusion Strategy. The European Commission is planning to propose one, which will include detail on public-private partnerships to speed up commercialisation. But without this clear roadmap from the Commission, the industry must pave its own path forward.
That is in large part why we established EFA – to create a platform for collaboration, advocacy, and action among the leading European fusion companies to address the industry’s concerns and make fusion a reality. We have concentrated our focus on some of the sector’s greatest challenges, including advocating for the necessary fusion regulation and creating a pathway forward to bolster Europe’s workforce. Looking ahead, more strategic direction is needed from policymakers to give industry and the wider investment community the confidence it needs in Europe’s fusion future.
What are the major challenges facing Europe’s fusion sector?
Over the last two decades, we have seen Europe’s economies deindustrialise at a growing pace. The commercialisation of fusion represents an opportunity to deliver the continent back to prosperity, but with slowed economic growth, lagging behind the US and China, we’re at risk of falling behind other major fusion markets and missing out on this opportunity.
One of the significant challenges that comes with this slowed growth is a shrinking EU workforce. We’ve seen this before, with heavy industries that were born in Europe shrinking and moving abroad. We cannot let fusion fall victim to the same fate.
Europe has the essential fusion skills and expertise spanning across the entire value chain. We have the knowledge and the capability to create not only world-leading fusion technologies, but a global fusion supply chain here on this continent. But without targeted interventions and an ambition to grow Europe’s fusion sector, there is a serious risk that these skills will move to other competing markets.
By bringing industry together with the mission of making commercial fusion a reality in Europe, we must focus on retaining these skills, and growing our future fusion workforce, to solidify Europe’s position as a world leader in fusion talent.
Another essential step to tackle these problems is ensuring Europe has the capital needed to kickstart an industrial renaissance underpinned by fusion. Right now, only 11% of the $7bn of private capital going into fusion is flowing into Europe. One of the key barriers preventing inward investment is having the proper regulation in place to support the growth of public-private partnerships. Without regulation to protect the intellectual property (IP) of innovative fusion technology developers, investment will continue to stall.
How can Europe compete with the likes of the US and China in the global fusion race? What needs to change to support this?
The key differentiator is our speed. Speed of innovation, of creating regulation, of crowding investment. The EU’s approach to innovation is too often stifled by bureaucracy and red tape.
If you look at China’s approach to industrialisation, they move quickly, and in the US, they have access to private capital that can accelerate the commercialisation of fusion at full speed.
In Europe, while we have the resources, the capability, and the skills, we’re much slower to galvanize action. Contrary to what people may think, Europe does in fact have the capital needed to create an industrial renaissance, but the other pieces of the puzzle are what slow down investment. With the proper regulation, protection of IP, and a system that encourages public-private partnerships, Europe can accelerate its approach and compete with other world powers in the race to achieving fusion.
Please note, this article will also appear in the 22nd edition of our quarterly publication.
