On December 31, 2024, Xiao Guiyu, Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), led the Economic and Financial Committee to visit Energy Singularity, taking a tour of the production workshop and having a discussion.
What is an artificial sun, and what is a nuclear power plant that burns seawater? The answer has the same key word – nuclear fusion. Energy Singularity, located in Lingang, Shanghai, is China’s first fusion energy startup company. It focuses on the research and development of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tokamak and accelerates the commercialization of fusion energy.
In early 2024, the Energy Singularity successfully built and operated the world’s first HTS tokamak, HH70. Subsequently, it will build an next generation device, HH170, with Q (energy gain) ≥ 10 to demonstrate the commercial viability of nuclear fusion energy, and then build a deuterium-deuterium fusion pilot power plant, HH380, to realize demonstrative fusion power generation.
Xiao Guiyu said that nuclear fusion is known as the ultimate energy solution. On the country’s path to laying out the future energy industry, the market-oriented route and the state-led national laboratory are like walking on two legs, which are equally crucial. Shanghai has accumulated and formed a complete industrial chain in the field of nuclear power technology, and at the same time has the ability to concentrate on supplying high-temperature superconducting tapes. For Energy Singularity, a company dedicated to the commercialization path of controlled nuclear fusion energy, time and capital will be the two major challenges for the future development of the enterprise. Therefore, the team should broaden their horizons and attract talents, and the government should also give more patience and help in subsequent links such as corporate financing.
Yan Xu, Director of the Economic and Financial Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CPPCC, hosted the symposium.
Original: CPPCC Online
Author: Shi Danlu, a reporter from the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Online (The pictures in this article were taken by Shi Danlu.)
Editor: Zhou Xiaojing