Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has struck a more than $1 billion deal with Italian energy company Eni for electricity from its first commercial fusion power plant.
The reactor, known as Arc, will be built outside Richmond, Virginia, near one of the highest concentrations of data centers in the U.S. It is expected to generate 400 megawatts and come online in the early 2030s, CEO Bob Mumgaard said.
This is the second major power agreement for CFS. In June, Google signed on to buy half of Arc’s output. Neither Eni nor CFS disclosed the exact volume of power involved in the deal.
CFS’s pilot reactor, Sparc, is under construction in Devens, Massachusetts, and is now 65% complete, with plans to switch on in 2026. Sparc is designed to demonstrate that fusion can generate more power than it consumes, a key milestone for the industry.
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CFS, a leader in commercial fusion efforts, uses a tokamak design, a doughnut-shaped device that traps plasma with superconducting magnets. While promising, the technology is still unproven at scale. That uncertainty makes deals like Eni’s especially significant.
Mumgaard said the agreement helps de-risk financing for Arc by locking in a buyer and establishing a benchmark price for fusion electricity. While Eni is unlikely to profit by reselling the expensive power to the grid, the move positions it at the forefront of a potential clean energy revolution.
“Partners understand the challenges that come from first-of-a-kind projects,” Mumgaard noted, adding that the deal balances accountability with collaboration.
For CFS, the Eni and Google agreements could be pivotal in raising the billions still needed to bring fusion power from theory to reality.
