November 2022
Clean Fusion Energy Leader TAE Technologies Wins $17.4M CalCompetes Grant
Grant Money Will Fuel California Jobs and the Development of TAE’s Groundbreaking Fusion Technology, Optimized Energy Storage, and Efficient Electric Mobility Solutions
FOOTHILL RANCH, CA – TAE Technologies, a private company founded to commercialize fusion energy with the cleanest environmental profile, has been awarded a highly competitive California Competes Grant by Governor Gavin Newsom’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz).
The $17.4 million grant will directly support job creation in fusion development, as well as TAE’s rapidly expanding power management business. This funding will have an immediate impact as TAE commercializes spinoff applications derived from its innovations in fusion for scalable power delivery systems, representing a new and distinct line of business that both accelerates the company’s fusion pursuits and serves California’s clean energy goals.
With the expertise of a highly trained and sophisticated workforce, TAE’s sixth research reactor, called Copernicus, is being constructed in California and is expected to achieve a crucial fusion milestone of demonstrating the viability of net energy generation around mid-decade. Copernicus will be the penultimate step on TAE’s path to commercializing clean fusion power by the early 2030s.
As the first private fusion energy company and the world leader in hydrogen-boron fusion research, TAE’s proprietary approach represents the fastest, most practical, and economically competitive solution to delivering safe, abundant, and carbon-free energy to the grid.
“TAE is a leader in commercial fusion, working to develop technology that will deliver clean, sustainable, cost-effective, and safe energy,” said Dee Dee Myers, Director of GO-Biz and Senior Advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom. “We’re pleased to support their work to further a green energy economy in California and around the world, while creating good jobs here in our state.”
GO-Biz serves as the State of California’s leader for job growth, economic development, and business assistance efforts. With the fourth largest gross domestic product in the world, California’s economic success is built on its reputation for building businesses that create world-changing innovations. TAE is at the forefront of the global race to develop and implement non-radioactive nuclear fusion energy and lead in the clean energy transition, putting California at the heart of a world-leading ecosystem for fusion as a viable carbon-free baseload power source.
Founded out of the University of California, Irvine, TAE Technologies has a deep and ongoing relationship with the UC system. Southern California has long been an innovation hub for fusion energy development, with a rich legacy of drawing on academic talent from major research universities, and engineering expertise from the aerospace industry.
“TAE is on course to realize commercial fusion energy in the next decade, and it’s in no small part because we’ve drawn on a rich well of talent from the high-quality workforce of scientists, engineers, technicians, and tradespeople,” said Michl Binderbauer, CEO of TAE Technologies. “California has a well-deserved reputation for being where the future is invented, and we are thrilled that our state is investing in innovations that will change humanity for the better.”
About TAE Technologies
TAE Technologies (pronounced T-A-E) was founded in 1998 to develop commercial fusion power with the cleanest environmental profile. The company’s pioneering work represents the fastest, most practical, and economically competitive solution to bring abundant clean energy to the grid. With over 1,800 patents filed globally and over 1,100 granted, $1.2 billion in private capital raised, five generations of National Laboratory-scale devices built and two more in development, and an experienced team of over 400 employees, TAE is now on the cusp of delivering this transformational energy source capable of sustaining the planet for thousands of years.
The company’s revolutionary technologies have produced a robust portfolio of commercial innovations in large adjacent markets such as power management, energy storage, electric mobility, fast charging, life sciences, and more. TAE is based in California, and maintains international offices in the UK and Switzerland. Multidisciplinary and mission-driven by nature, TAE is leveraging proprietary science and engineering to create a bright future.