Proxima Fusion plans to build a €140 million factory in Germany to manufacture high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape for its fusion reactors, addressing a component currently dominated by suppliers in Asia.
The Munich-based company said the proposed facility would be developed with a combination of public and private funding. Lower Saxony has committed €21 million towards the project.
Proxima intends to use the tape in powerful magnets designed to confine the extremely hot plasma needed to produce fusion energy. The technology is central to the company’s reactor design.
The announcement follows a €411 million fundraising round earlier this year, which placed Proxima among the best-funded fusion companies. The new factory is intended to give the business greater control over the supply of a material it will require in substantial quantities.
Its planned demonstration plant is expected to use about 20,000 kilometres of HTS tape. A commercial power station would require roughly twice that amount, according to the company.
Most HTS tape is currently manufactured in China and Japan. Proxima’s proposed production plant would therefore create a European source of a material that is becoming increasingly important to the development of fusion power.
HTS tape became available to the latest generation of fusion companies a little more than a decade ago. Unlike conventional superconducting materials, it can produce strong magnetic fields at comparatively higher temperatures, allowing reactors to be designed on a smaller and more efficient scale.
Demand for the technology is also emerging outside the fusion industry. Companies including Veir are exploring HTS tape to improve the efficiency and power density of data centres, adding to pressure on existing production capacity.
