(103a) The Role of Fusion in Highly Decarbonized Electricity Systems
AIChE Annual Meeting
2024
2024 AIChE Annual Meeting
Topical Conference: Sustainable (Lower Carbon-Intensive) Energy Solutions: The Art of Scale-up and/or Scale-out
Decarbonization pathways
Monday, October 28, 2024 - 8:00am to 8:20am
This presentation looks at the role fusion power plants could play in highly decarbonized electricity systems, given their zero-carbon, firm power attributes. Fusion power technologies are still under development, and there are not yet any commercial fusion power plants. Hence, we explore the potential role of fusion by investigating its integration into the electricity system in 2050 and beyond for a range of future fusion power plant costs. We look at fusion's value for different regions around the world as well as within the U.S. and conclude that fusion can play a major role both in the U.S. and globally. We also look at factors that the cost of fusion will be sensitive to in 2050 and beyond.
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