The global fusion energy industry attracted $2.64bn (£1.95bn) in private and public funding over the past 12 months, according to a new report by the Fusion Industry Association (FIA).
This represents an increase of 178% compared to the sum of a little over $900m raised across the previous 12-month period.
Fusion power is a proposed form of energy generation that would generate electricity through the heat from nuclear fusion reactions – essentially the same process that powers the sun.
It works by forcing two forms of hydrogen together and heating them at extreme temperatures.
It is believed to have the potential to provide clean, safe and virtually limitless energy and is seen as a vital part of efforts to combat climate change.
It is still a distance away from delivering energy to the global grid, but many believe that fusion power will be active within the next decade.
The FIA surveyed 53 fusion companies for the report and discovered that the total funding for these firms is currently $9.7bn.
However, the total was boosted by major funding rounds of $900m for Pacific Fusion and $425m for Helion, both of which are based in the US.
Germany-based Marvel Fusion also received €113m, while the UK government had previously announced that it would invest more than £2.5bn into fusion energy over the next five years.
Despite the increase, investment remains a major challenge
Despite the ever-increasing levels of funding, 83% of respondents said that investment remained a major challenge.
They estimated that they would each need a median additional investment of $700m to bring pilot sites online and launch commercial operations.
The total investment of $77bn that the companies said they would need is around eight times more than the total commitments made so far, but they remained optimistic.
Just over half (53%) believed they would be able to bring fusion-generated electricity to the grid by 2035 and 84% believed they could fulfil that ambition by 2040.
In slightly more bizarre news, there have been reports that one US company, Marathon Fusion, has ‘discovered the secret of alchemy’ – the long-held dream of turning base metals into gold.
In a paper that has yet to be peer reviewed, researchers at the company said that they had discovered a method to “synthesize stable gold from the abundant mercury isotope” using fusion power.
The authors claim that this could be used to offset the costs of the plant, producing $550m worth of gold per year per GW of fusion energy.
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