German startups are entering the burgeoning nuclear fusion market, aiming to compete with US and Chinese dominance. Despite significant investment in other nations, Germany's strong research ecosystem and laser-based technology offer potential advantages. A prototype reactor is planned for 2037, with commercial plants by the early 2040s.
The Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology (CRAFT) aims to generate electricity by creating a miniature sun at over 100 million degrees Celsius, trapped in a magnetic cage. The assembly includes a toroidal-field magnet (magnetic cage) and a central solenoid (igniter), with the CRAFT toroidal field coil being a core component to prevent container melting at extreme plasma temperatures.
Proxima Fusion, a Munich-based nuclear fusion startup, is developing a stellarator called Alpha based on Germany's Max Planck Institute's W7-X design. The company has secured €400m from Bavaria and is seeking over $1bn in federal funding. Unlike tokamaks, stellarators use twisted magnetic coils to control plasma more easily but are harder to build. Proxima faces competition from 53 other fusion projects worldwide, including the UK's Step spherical tokamak project in Yorkshire.
Proxima Fusion, a Munich-based startup, has secured €400m (£340m) in state funding from Bavaria to build Alpha, a stellarator nuclear fusion device. The company is pursuing the more complex stellarator approach, which uses twisted magnetic coils to control plasma, competing against the more common tokamak design. Proxima is also bidding for over $1bn in federal funding, with a decision expected next year. The goal is to produce more energy than consumed and eventually create a fusion power plant called Stellaris.
