Tokamak Energy and Furukawa Electric Group Strengthen Relationship to Progress Commercial Fusion Energy
11 January 2023 - Tokamak Energy has signed an agreement with leading Japanese and United States companies to supply specialist high temperature superconducting (HTS) wire for its new advanced prototype fusion device, ST80-HTS.
Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan and SuperPower Inc, New York, USA of Furukawa Electric Group, are expected to deliver more than several hundred kilometres of wire to the Oxford-based company for the next phase of construction.
ST80-HTS will be the world’s first high field spherical tokamak using HTS magnets at scale and will utilise HTS wire developed and supplied by Furukawa Electric Group. This is a key stage in the path to Tokamak Energy’s fusion pilot plant which will demonstrate the capability to deliver clean electricity into the grid in the early 2030s, producing up to 200 MW of net electrical power.
HTS magnets are an essential enabler for the low cost, commercial operation and global deployment of spherical tokamak devices. They are essential for confining the fuel, which reaches temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius. Tokamak Energy and Furukawa Electric Group are respectively leaders in the fields of HTS magnet design and superconducting wire development.
Production of the wire for ST80-HTS has now commenced at SuperPower Inc’s facility in New York and the first batches have been successfully delivered to Tokamak Energy. The parties are now also evaluating scale-up plans to meet the requirements for Tokamak Energy’s ST-E1 pilot plant and future commercial fusion power plants.
Chris Kelsall, CEO Tokamak Energy, said: “Building our next advanced protype, ST80-HTS is a key milestone in our mission to deliver commercial fusion as a clean, sustainable, low cost and globally available energy source. Securing partnerships with leading global suppliers such as Furukawa Electric Group strengthens our capability to address the twin challenges of climate change and energy security.”
Keiichi Kobayashi, President & CEO of Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. commented as follows:
“Furukawa Electric Group has set out the vision toward 2030 as pursuing business to solve social agendas and to contribute to the development of sustainable energy-solutions. Also, we have laid out the environment-vision 2050, as our committed contribution for the future of the Earth. The new form of fusion energy is core to such goals, and we expect that our superconductors will play key roles in our collaboration between Tokamak Energy and Furukawa Electric.”
About Tokamak Energy
Tokamak Energy is a leading commercial fusion energy company based near Oxford, UK and is pursuing the global deployment of commercial fusion through the combined development of spherical tokamaks, with high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets.
The company, founded in 2009 as a spin-off from the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, currently employs a growing team of over 220 people with talent from the UK and experts from around the world. It combines world leading scientific, engineering, industrial and commercial capabilities.
The company has 70 families of patent applications and has raised $250 million, comprising $200m from private investors and $50m from the UK and US governments. Once realised, fusion energy will be clean, low cost and globally deployable – a key enabler for meeting world energy requirements and climate policy goals.
About Furukawa Electric Group
Founded in 1884, Furukawa Electric Group has built a global network of Furukawa Electric and 123 group companies with about 50,000 employees, and has been developing a wide range of technologies, products, and services around the world for the field of infrastructure, including telecommunications and energy, as well as the fields of automotive components and electronics, through the four core technologies of metals, polymers, photonics, and high frequency (electronics etc.).
Based on Furukawa Electric’s founder’s thoughts, “Value employees, value customers, value new technology, and contribute to society,” and the “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, Furukawa Electric Group has formulated the “Furukawa Electric Group Vision 2030.” We come together with the aim of building a sustainable world and make people’s life safe, peaceful and rewarding by creating solutions for the new generation of global infrastructure combining information, energy and mobility.
Furukawa Electric Group’s efforts towards the SDGs
Based on the “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” adopted by the United Nations, Furukawa Electric Group has formulated the “Furukawa Electric Group Vision 2030” which sets the year 2030 as its target and is advancing efforts with the aim to “Build a sustainable world and make people’s life safe, peaceful and rewarding, Furukawa Electric Group will create solutions for the new generation of global infrastructure combining information, energy and mobility.” Toward the achievement of our Vision 2030, we will take open, agile, and innovative approaches to promote ESG management that aims to increase corporate value over the medium to long term and will contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.
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