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The biggest and most well-funded fusion company, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, has made progress on a key part of its first machine, the company tells Axios.

Why it matters: As fusion companies race to build machines that could eventually produce carbon-free electricity, tech milestones are some of the only ways for investors and the public to judge company progress.

Driving the news: Commonwealth Fusion Systems' (CFS) steel fusion vacuum vessel is due to arrive in the coming months, built by Italian oil and gas gear maker Walter Tosto, writes Katie.

The vacuum vessel will house the plasma that's the pulsing heart of the company's fusion machine and has to be entirely airtight.

Walter Tosto recently split the vacuum vessel in half, and CFS will assemble it again with the tokamak parts around it at its Devens, Mass., facility.

CFS CEO Bob Mumgaard described the vessel's arrival as "a tangible sign of progress."

Zoom in: According to the Fusion Industry Association, 43 companies are working on fusion technologies, and last year alone 13 new fusion companies were founded or emerged from stealth.

Mumgaard says the emergence of new companies is a sign of a healthy evolution. "Fusion is establishing itself as an industry in its own right."

CFS has the most ambitious timeline out of its peers to get to the point where a fusion machine produces more energy than is put into it.

CFS says much of the equipment for its SPARC facility will arrive this year, will be assembled in 2025, and will achieve first plasma by the end of 2026.

By the numbers: CFS has raised $2 billion from investors including Bill Gates, Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Tiger Global, Jeff Bezos, Khosla Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Google, John Doerr, and Marc Benioff's Time Ventures, among others.

Behind the scenes: The trickiest part of getting SPARC up and running could be building out the high-temperature superconducting magnets, or HTS, which are notoriously fragile.

SPARC will require 18 of these magnets to operate.

CFS said building the magnets at its factory is one of the highest priority items at the company right now.

The big picture: While fusion is creeping closer to commercialization, it's still a moon-shot technology.

If the tech ends up working, fusion machines could provide baseload clean energy and help remove carbon emissions from the power sector.

Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify the photo credit and the timing of the vacuum's arrival.

1 big thing: The hard work of building fusion

Commonwealth Fusion System's vacuum vessel, cut in half, which will house the plasma in its fusion machine.

Commonwealth Fusion System's vacuum vessel, cut in half, which will house the plasma in its fusion machine. Photo: Courtesy of Walter Tosto.

Vaulted Deep, a startup that injects carbon-rich organic wastes underground, just landed a $58 million deal with Frontier, whose members include Meta and Alphabet, Ben Geman reports in Axios Generate.

Why it's the BFD: The agreement with Frontier, whose members include Meta and Alphabet, signals confidence in the scalability of Vaulted's tech.

And it's a shot in the arm for emerging, biomass-based removal methods more broadly.

State of play: Under the $58 million deal, Vaulted will remove 152,480 tons of CO2 between 2024 and 2027, with an option for subsequent buys.

It's Frontier's second commercial deal in the biomass removal and storage space, following last year's contract with Charm Industrial.

How it works: Vaulted uses organic materials — farm wastes, sewage sludge, food wastes and more — that would otherwise release CO2 and methane when burned, landfilled or spread on land.

They convert this into a slurry that's injected deep and permanently underground.

Vaulted claims cost advantages, because CO2 uptake in organic materials is natural.

Catch up quick: Today's deal follows a small-scale 2023 agreement with Frontier that Vaulted delivered.

The company spun out of Advantek Waste Management last year, with plans to harness the older company's tech for carbon removal, and raised an $8 million seed round.

Reality check: Today's removal volumes are tiny compared with the gigaton scale needed to become a real weapon against global warming in decades ahead.

But these are crucial years for steering markets toward needle-moving deployment levels.

What's next: Most injections for Frontier buyers will occur at Vaulted's Great Plains site in Kansas. The startup also plans to bring three new facilities online by the end of 2027, CEO Julia Reichelstein said.

2. The BFD: Vaulting into carbon removal

Illustration for item on carbon removal tech

Two of the most powerful lobbies in Congress are uniting to include climate funding in the farm bill, Axios Pro's Jael Holzman writes in Energy Policy. 

Why it matters: The effort could unlock lucrative tax credits to make jet fuel from ethanol. 

Driving the news: Airlines and ethanol makers are urging senior lawmakers to include the so-called Farm to Fly Act in the latest farm bill.

The act would let certain ethanol blends qualify for a lucrative aviation fuel credit in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Context: Using ethanol for fuel can dramatically reduce emissions. It also benefits corn growers who supply the feedstock and the refineries that make the fuel.

The other side: Republicans have traditionally opposed including climate measures in the farm bill, instead advocating for conservation programs.

Some groups have also argued that growing corn for fuel drives up grocery prices by reducing the farmland that's used to grow food. 

State of play: Aviation and ethanol are two of the most powerful lobbies in Congress.

In uniting to back the Farm to Fly Act, they're creating a potent political coalition to keep climate-smart agriculture funding in the farm bill — which may overcome GOP opposition.

What's next: Rep. Dusty Johnson, Republican chairman of an influential House Agriculture subcommittee, expects a farm bill before Memorial Day.

Separately: LanzaJet is raising roughly $100 million as it completes a production plant that could be the first to make sustainable aviation fuel from ethanol.

For more exclusive reporting from Axios Pro's Energy Policy team, contact us.

3. Ethanol jet fuel gets some lobbying muscle

Animated illustration of a giant ear of corn rolling down a city street.

🛑 Russian uranium ban: The Senate yesterday evening passed a bill that would bar most uranium imports from Russia, the world's largest uranium supplier, Axios Pro's Nick Sobczyk reports in Energy Policy.

The Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act would ban low-enriched uranium used in conventional commercial reactors. It includes a waiver for energy companies with no "viable" alternative through the end of 2028.

The measure opens billions in funding for domestic production of enriched uranium. It now heads to President Biden's desk after lengthy delay.

🫡 Welcome to Musk Net: Do you trust Elon Musk to run crucial infrastructure? You might have no choice, writes Felix Salmon in Axios Markets.

The combination of Starlink, Tesla Superchargers and X (formerly Twitter) enable Musk to operate networks that provide crucial social functions while being effectively unregulated.

These networks owe their continued existence and health to staying in Musk's good graces — which can come and go with startling speed.

💰 Debt for all: Young climate tech startups should be thinking about debt from the very beginning of the creation of their companies, according to a column in Sifted.

Entrepreneurs need to learn how to "speak bank," or hire a CFO that can navigate the world of debt financing.

🤯 10.5GW for MSFT!: Investors Brookfield Asset Management will develop 10.5 GW of clean energy to serve Microsoft's power needs, reports Ben Geman in Axios Generate.

The deal is roughly eight times bigger than the largest single corporate power purchase agreement in history.

4. Temperature check

Illustration of an earth in space covered in red and blue meteorological color lines.

• Arbol, a climate-focused insurance underwriting and brokerage service based in NYC, raised a $60m Series B led by Giant Ventures and Opera Tech Ventures, joined by Mubadala Capital. https://axios.link/3wrh4rQ

• CroBio, a UK agtech developing microbes to make crops more resilient, raised a ~€1.5m seed round led by The Grantham Foundation, joined by SOSV, Ponderosa Ventures and insider Catapult Ventures. https://axios.link/4deZGr7

• California utility PG&E is in talks to sell a minority stake in its power generation unit to KKR to help finance grid upgrades and wildfire prevention, Dan Primack writes in Pro Rata. https://axios.link/3UlRKvw

• Macquarie Asset Management plans to sell a 10% stake in British offshore wind farm East Anglia One to renewable energy asset manager NTR. https://axios.link/4df25lH

• German fleet services firm DKV Mobility, backed by CVC Capital Partners, shelved plans for a planned Frankfurt IPO, per Reuters. https://axios.link/4bfdekw

• Legence, a Blackstone-backed building sustainability consulting firm, acquired Corporate Sustainability Strategies, a commercial real estate sustainability consulting firm. https://axios.link/4bibjvp

• PowerGem, transmission reliability modeling and analysis provider, acquired Astrapé Consulting, a planning software provider for utilities and grid operators. https://axios.link/49UFYOo

• Aspen Power, a clean energy developer based in New York, plans to acquire a community solar portfolio in Illinois from a developer. https://axios.link/3Up7iyn

• Toyota Motor North America entered an R&D agreement with Argonne National Laboratory to study direct recycling for lithium-ion batteries. https://axios.link/3Uk9Ca5

• Chinese climate envoy Liu Zhenmin plans to visit the U.S. for a first formal face-to-face with U.S. special adviser John Podesta, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/49ZRLeb

5. Hot deals

• Jack Hollis and Chris Reynolds were promoted to COO and chief strategy officer, respectively, of Toyota Motor North America. They each remain EVP. https://axios.link/3UBJXLj

• Stuart Simpson was named CEO of Vertical Aerospace, a UK eVTOL developer. Simpson was previously CFO; he succeeds founder Stephen Fitzpatrick, who is remaining a board member. https://axios.link/3JGRoKV

6. It's personnel

👀 What we're watching: Some big corporate partnerships and notable moves in Congress. Read on below.

📺 Katie starting watching "Tokyo Vice"... and as a former Yomiuri reporter isn't really getting into it yet!

🌱 Alan had four yards of mulch dropped off at the house yesterday. Plans for this weekend: planting and mulching.

Thank you to Michael Flaherty and Chris Speckhard for today's edits.

And thank you for reading Climate Deals! Please share with your friends, family and fusion-watchers.

May 01, 2024

1 big thing: The hard work of building fusion