Commonwealth Fusion Systems said on Tuesday that it has filed a formal request with grid operator PJM to connect its planned power plant in Virginia. This is reportedly a result of discussions with the grid operator going back over a year. With this, Commonwealth will be the first fusion energy firm to connect to a major grid in the U.S.
According to Axios, it will bring even more detailed work in coming years as PJM vets what Commonwealth hopes will be commercial power generation in the early 2030s.
“It’s a rigorous process, where you document what it will look like to the grid operator, how it will run, how it will start up, how it will shut down, all the details that go into an operating power plant,” Commonwealth CEO Bob Mumgaard said in an interview.
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Commonwealth said Tuesday that the power plant’s name references the geological boundary where Virginia’s elevated Piedmont region drops to the Tidewater coastal plain, creating rapids along the James River. The company added that the site has historically been where “Virginians built mills at the Fall Line to harness the power of falling water … today, CFS will harness a different energy source: the clean, safe, secure power of fusion.”
Commonwealth also noted that as part of the application submission procedure, the company will work through PJM’s “diligent stress-test process to demonstrate that it can reliably help to meet the region’s surging energy demands.”
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The company mentioned that the power plant has been seen as a resource to support the massive energy demands of AI data centers in the region, which is part of Virginia’s so-called “Data Center Alley.” The area is known for its concentration of data centers, and energy analysts have said the region has the highest forecasted power load growth in the U.S.
Commonwealth said that by getting into the PJM queue now, the company “will ensure that it will be able to connect to the grid upon completion of the power plant’s construction.”
Rick Needham, chief commercial officer for CFS, told POWER the company is confident in its timeline for a commercial power plant.
Last year, Commonwealth had raised $863 million from a variety of investors including Nvidia, Google, and Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures.