UK-based fusion energy technology developer Tokamak Energy has received £67m ($87m) in funding from investors including financial services and insurance group Legal & General.
The round was led by Hans-Peter Wild, the former chairman of food ingredient provider Rudolf Wild, and included David Harding, the founder and chief executive of investment manager Winton Group.
Tokamak is working on development of a compact system that will be able to produce fusion power and claims to have built a working prototype capable of creating high-temperature plasma.
The technology uses a spherical tokamak system where a powerful magnetic field is utilised to confine hot plasma so it can be heated to the temperature – 100 million degrees – required for fusing charged deuterium and tritium particles to generate energy.
The company had previously raised $12.3m in funding from Legal & General, David Harding and undisclosed individual investors in 2017.
Legal & General maintains a clean energy practice and has provided financing for renewable energy projects in addition to investing directly in clean energy technology developers such as solar cell developer Oxford PV and energy-management software producer Upside Energy.
Jonathan Carling, Tokamak’s chief executive, said: “The world needs to change the way energy is supplied. Fusion is safe, clean and can generate reliable energy at scale from an abundant fuel supply.
“Since 2009 we have met every development milestone on budget, and in some cases ahead of schedule. This funding enables us to continue development towards our target of fusion power demonstration by 2025 and grid connected power by 2030.”
Photo courtesy of Tokamak Energy Ltd.
