Pacific Fusion Breaks Ground on $1 Billion Research and Manufacturing Campus in New Mexico
Pacific Fusion broke ground on Tuesday on a $1 billion research and manufacturing campus in Mesa del Sol, Albuquerque. The California-based company aims to achieve net facility gain—where a nuclear fusion reaction produces more energy than it consumes—by 2030. This facility is intended to serve as a demonstration for making fusion power commercially viable, with a goal of operating a commercial power plant by the mid-2030s. Rob Black, secretary of the New Mexico Economic Development Department, noted that the state recruited the company to ensure a new frontier in science and technology. The project received $776.6 million in industrial revenue bonds and $10 million in Local Economic Development Act funds. The facility will utilize pulse power technology from Sandia National Laboratories. Carrie von Muench, co-founder and chief operating officer of Pacific Fusion, stated that there is no other facility of this type being constructed in the country. The company aims to provide a practical, modular, and mass-manufacturable system for scalable fusion power, which could eventually provide carbon-free energy on demand.