Fusion energy: The evolving technology landscape in Western states

Recent scientific breakthroughs and industrial advancements have positioned fusion energy as a promising solution to meet clean firm energy needs. Western states are at the center of this booming technological market, with fusion energy investments materializing across the region.

Fusion energy, which recreates the same process that powers the sun, has the potential to provide abundant, carbon-free, always-on power. However, significant challenges, like technological advancement, regulatory certainty, and market cultivation, must be addressed for fusion energy to deliver on its potential. State governments can play a vital role in developing their own fusion energy ecosystem by crafting legislative and regulatory approaches to create a conducive business environment for fusion energy deployment.

CATF is unique among environmental nonprofits for having a fusion program, and we recently released a report outlining state policy options—including legislative, regulatory, and programmatic—for fusion energy deployment. The report is one of the first to provide fusion policy recommendations at the state-level specifically, highlighting five categories of benefits that states can expect from future fusion energy deployment: zero-carbon firm energy, energy security, improved load growth management, job creation, and market leadership.

The report also highlighted that 29 fusion energy startups in the U.S. have now cumulatively attracted more than three quarters of the more than $10 billion dollars of private funding raised globally, with the vast majority having been invested in the last five years. While the technological breakthroughs are relatively new, fusion energy is quickly moving from the lab toward the grid. In fact, more than 75 percent of industry respondents to the Fusion Industry Association’s yearly survey  believe they will put their first electrons on the grid by the first half of the 2030s or even earlier.

California

With world-class research institutions, a deep bench of fusion companies, and one of the most advanced clean energy policy frameworks in the country, California is a national leader in fusion energy development. The state hosts major federally funded fusion research facilities, multiple venture-backed fusion startups, and a growing set of state policies designed to accelerate innovation and evaluate fusion’s role in meeting long-term electricity needs.

• California’s research institutions form a pillar of the U.S. fusion ecosystem. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is home to the National Ignition Facility, which in December 2022 became the first in the world to produce more energy from a fusion reaction than the energy delivered to the target, or “scientific breakeven” — proof that fusion energy is scientifically feasible. UC San Diego in La Jolla, Caltech in Pasadena, and UC Berkeley in Berkeley each host significant plasma physics and fusion science programs that supply essential talent, innovation, and technical research capacity.
• General Atomics: GA operates the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego, one of the world’s largest magnetic confinement tokamak research machines and the only operating tokamak in the United States, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy.
• TAE Technologies: TAE Technologies is a Foothill Ranch headquartered fusion company with $1.2 billion in funding and more than 600 employees. TAE is developing fusion systems and other commercial products for both medical isotope production and eventual grid-scale electricity generation. TAE’s fusion machine collides and compresses two beams of plasma in a strong magnetic field to create fusion reactions and fusion energy. 
• Pacific Fusion: Though its R&D facility announcement is in New Mexico, Pacific Fusion is headquartered in the Bay Area and has raised $900 million and is designing a modular fusion power system with a goal of scalable commercial deployment.

California has taken several important steps in recent years to integrate fusion into its broader clean energy strategy. Fusion qualifies as a zero-carbon resource under California’s clean electricity standard established by SB 100 in 2018. In 2023, AB 1172 directed energy planners to evaluate fusion’s role in the state’s long-term energy outlook. In 2025, California supported fusion component manufacturing by expanding a clean energy manufacturing tax exclusion to include fusion via SB 86, and created the nation’s first state Fusion Research and Development Innovation Fund to provide financial incentives supporting advancing fusion research and commercialization via SB 80. As fusion companies expand their presence in the state, California can consider additional opportunities based on recommendations in CATF’s fusion state policy report, including streamlining permitting, further investing in its leading fusion workforce pipeline, and ensuring that fusion development aligns with broader clean energy, innovation, and economic development goals.

Washington

Washington is home to three fusion energy companies that are innovating and developing this clean firm energy technology.

• Helion: Helion Energy, based in Everett, is developing a new fusion technology to support the “world’s first fusion power plant.” Helion Energy’s fusion generator uses magnets to collide and compress two plasmas and directly capture the energy released from the resulting fusion reactions. In July, Helion broke ground on construction of a fusion machine, intended to power Microsoft data centers, in Malaga, WA. Helion plans for this plant to generate power by 2028.
• Zap Energy: Zap Energy, also based in Everett, is developing modular fusion energy machines to generate scalable fusion energy for a variety of different potential customers. Zap Energy’s fusion machine creates powerful electric currents to confine and compress (or “pinch”) a plasma and produce fusion reactions. In November 2025, Zap Energy shared that its fusion device generated pressure levels that are 10,000 times the atmospheric pressure at sea level, a key milestone in validating its Z pinch design.
• Avalanche: This Seattle-based startup is leveraging small-scale designs to deliver energy through a compact fusion machine. Avalanche’s fusion machine uses strong electric fields to trap and collide fusion fuel particles in the plasma to create fusion reactions, In July 2025, Avalanche operated its desktop fusion machine for several hours while maintaining 300,000 volts, a key validator of its fusion machine concept.

In 2024, Washington state passed two bills, HB 1924 and HB 1018, that support fusion energy development in the state. The bills promote the integration of fusion technology within state clean energy policies by listing fusion energy as a clean energy technology and affirm that fusion energy facilities can access the same permitting options as other clean energy facilities. Implementation of these bills will lay the groundwork for progress towards fusion grid deployment in the state.

New Mexico

Recent developments in New Mexico are demonstrating how a state can facilitate fusion energy market growth and development.

• Pacific Fusion: In September 2025, Pacific Fusion announced that it will invest $1 billion in building a research and manufacturing campus in New Mexico. Pacific Fusion uses intense pulses of electric energy to create magnetic fields that compress and confine capsules of fusion fuel to produce plasmas and fusion reactions. The planned Pacific Fusion facility in New Mexico will house the commercial fusion energy company’s demonstration system, which the company expects to generate a net-positive energy output by 2030.
• Fusion Igniter: The Fusion Igniter is a Santa Fe-based accelerator specifically focused on accelerating fusion technology development focused on supporting early-stage companies crucial to the fusion supply chain in New Mexico.

This momentum has catalyzed interest among lawmakers to advance pro-fusion bills in upcoming legislative sessions, in part based on recommendations in CATF’s fusion state policy report.

Colorado

Companies and universities are also driving innovation in fusion energy across Colorado.

• Xcimer Energy: Headquartered in Denver, Xcimer Energy is working to commercialize the plasma physics and fusion confinement concept successfully demonstrated at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Xcimer Energy’s fusion machines will use high-powered laser pulses to heat and compress fusion fuel and create pulses of fusion reactions and energy. Xcimer is working to couple the scientific breakthroughs at NIF with a lower-cost, higher-energy laser system that can scale to commercial application. The company completed their Long Pulse Kinetics platform, the first major technical milestone on its path to a pilot plant, and is currently in the process of siting Vulcan, its next generation fusion machine that will demonstrate “engineering breakeven” or net system energy production for the first time.
• ATLAS Facility: In May 2025, Colorado State University (CSU) announced that they will build a new laser research facility on its Foothills campus to support fusion energy development. To construct the new facility, CSU is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fusion Sciences program and is leveraging a $150 million public-private partnership with Marvel Fusion.

Colorado has an 80-percent-by-2030 clean electricity standard (CES) in place already and is currently considering a post-2030 100 percent CES. The state passed a bill during the 2025 legislative session that designated advanced nuclear (fission) technology as a qualified clean energy resource. This designation helped clarify that the state is open for business for advanced nuclear investment. The same could be done for fusion, along with other recommendations outlined in CATF’s fusion state policy report.

Clean Air Task Force works with state governments and other stakeholders on solutions that advance clean energy and climate change mitigation as part of its nonprofit mission. Mention of specific corporate entities in this work does not constitute an endorsement by CATF of any particular company or fusion technology.