The Fusion Industry Association (FIA) today released a report – The Fusion Industry Supply Chain: Opportunities and Challenges – analyzing the current fusion supply chain and projecting a huge growth in demand for fusion suppliers over the coming years. The report also found limited concern about geopolitical supply risk and a reluctance amongst suppliers to make the investments needed without firm commitments.
The survey of 26 private fusion companies and 34 supplier companies (all FIA affiliate members) calculated that the supply chain was worth over $500 million in 2022. That figure is set to increase to over $7 billion by the time companies build their “First of a Kind” power plants and when the fusion industry reaches maturity, the supply chain is predicted to be worth trillions of dollars.
However, fusion companies are getting signals from suppliers that they are reluctant to make the necessary investment right now. Seventy percent of fusion companies said their suppliers see building the capacity to meet future demand as too risky without committed orders.
“The projected growth of the fusion industry creates a huge business opportunity for current and new suppliers,” says Andrew Holland, CEO of the FIA. “It is clear more long-term certainty is needed – through a mix of finance, regulation, risk-sharing mechanisms, and more communication – so suppliers are prepared to scale ahead of industry need.
“The fusion supply chain has a unique advantage as it is not reliant on rare materials only found in unstable countries, but on high quality manufacturing and specialist components that come from open economies. With appropriate private and public investment, fusion energy will one day provide a sustainable, reliable, and abundant form of clean energy to communities around the world.”
The report makes several recommendations to address supplier reluctance:
- Increase investment, both public and private, into fusion to give confidence about the necessity of supplier scale.
- Experiment with risk-sharing financing to enable suppliers to invest in new capacity – such as through fusion investors making investments in key suppliers.
- Create online networks and an annual supplier event, to help communication and awareness between fusion companies and suppliers.
- Deploy standardisation and regulation to bring more certainty to the supply chain and confidence to make long-term investments.