Since the beginning of the war in Iran on February 28, the energy question has returned to the forefront of international news.
The conflict and Iran’s subsequent decision to severely restrict shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, an essential route for global oil transportation, led to what the International Energy Agency described as the biggest supply disruption in the history of the oil market.
The crisis prompted European policymakers to reassess dependence on imported fossil fuels and explore local alternatives.
Renewable energies and nuclear power are among these options. Nuclear fusion, another form of nuclear energy, could potentially help solve Europe’s long-term energy crisis.
Francesco Sciortino, director general and co-founder of the German startup Proxima Fusion, believes fusion energy plays a crucial role in strengthening energy security in Europe.
But what is nuclear fusion? And what technology does Proxima Fusion use to produce it?
Fusion Energy: A Promising Source?
Fusion energy, along with nuclear fission, is one of the two ways to produce energy from nuclear reactions.
Nuclear fusion, or fusion energy, produces energy by merging light atomic nuclei.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, fusion energy could generate four times more energy per kilogram of fuel than nuclear fission and nearly four million times more energy than burning oil or coal.
Fusion also does not produce CO2 emissions, long-lived radioactive waste, is considered safer than nuclear fission, and more predictable than renewable energies.
Despite these promising advantages, fusion energy is not yet a commercial reality.
Creating and maintaining a fusion reaction remains complex and requires significant energy input; specialists still need to demonstrate that it can produce more energy – and money – than it consumes.
Proxima Fusion and Stellarator Technology
Proxima Fusion, a Munich-based startup founded in 2023 from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, is among the projects pursuing this goal.
Unlike most European and international fusion projects using tokamaks like JET and ITER, Proxima Fusion uses stellarators to create the fusion reaction.
These two technologies rely on ring-shaped devices that use magnetic fields to confine plasma, a state of matter and fusion ingredient. They differ in how they maintain this plasma stable at the extremely high temperatures required for fusion.
While stellarators are less common than tokamaks, they could potentially become the preferred option for future fusion power plants according to the IAEA. Proxima Fusion is working towards this goal.
Alpha, a prototype to test the stellarator’s functioning to achieve a net energy gain, is currently in manufacturing with the aim to be operational by the early 2030s.
Alongside Alpha, Proxima Fusion is working on Stellaris, intended to be the world’s first commercial fusion power plant. Stellaris is expected to become operational in the latter half of the 2030s.
Proxima Fusion’s goal is not just a business venture but also to encourage the entire supply chain to invest in their capacities to advance the fusion sector rapidly.
The Future of Fusion Energy in Germany and Europe
Stellaris will be constructed on the site of a former nuclear fission power plant in Gudremmingen, Germany, as part of the country’s transition to fusion energy development after phasing out nuclear fission in 2023.
In October 2025, the office of Chancellor Friedrich Merz presented a plan to support and accelerate nuclear fusion technology development, with over two billion euros investment by 2029 to build a fusion power plant.
Although Proxima Fusion was not founded in Germany for these reasons, Sciortino believes the German government has embraced the potential of fusion technology.
According to Sciortino, fusion represents a spectacular economic opportunity for Europe due to the continent’s need for sovereignty and the limitations of other energy sources like solar panels and wind power.
More Sceptical Voices
Despite the enthusiasm for fusion energy, some experts are more skeptical about its true potential.
In a recent study published in Nature Energy, researchers suggest that the future costs of fusion power plants are uncertain and their attributed learning rates are likely overestimated.
Lingxi Tang, one of the authors, explains the concept of learning rates and how uncertainties in previous analyses and biases in optimism have influenced predictions for fusion technology costs.
