Investors in the funding round included energy company RWE and tech giant Google. The private investors, led by Ventures and East X Ventures, also secured a prerequisite for additional funding of €400 million from the state of Bavaria.
Proxima Fusion says it is the best-funded nuclear fusion company in Europe and among the highest-valued in the industry worldwide. The company employs around 200 people and plans to unveil a pilot power plant in about five years. With RWE and Google as partners, a commercial magnetic fusion facility is expected to go online in the 2030s on the site of the former RWE nuclear power plant in Gundremmingen near Augsburg.
By the early 2030s, the construction of the demonstration reactor “Alpha” is planned in Garching near Munich, with costs estimated at €2 billion. The newly raised funds will go toward construction, expanding development and manufacturing capacities, and advancing key technologies. The first magnet for Alpha is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
The German government has set the goal of building the world’s first fusion reactor in Germany. Markus Söder (CSU) has declared nuclear fusion one of the most important research areas in his state. Proxima Fusion emerged from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics.
Source: www.spiegel.de
