Gauss delivers landmark site map for Europe’s first fusion plant

Gauss Fusion has reached the next milestone in its ambition to build Europe’s first commercial fusion power plant.

The company has completed a major European-wide site-mapping study in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

The development comes just weeks after Gauss Fusion – a German-headquartered company with pan-European alliances – released its conceptual design report to Germany’s Chancellery.

Gauss Fusion chief executive Milena Roveda said that fusion power plants “should not exist in isolation but instead be woven into the fabric of Europe’s existing industrial base”.

She added that the TUM study “brings that future a step closer, demonstrating that across Europe the infrastructure, industry and energy networks already exist to make fusion a practical, scalable and sovereign energy source”.

Conducted over the past year, the TUM study identifies 150 industrial clusters with 900 sites across Europe, all capable of potentially hosting the first generation of fusion power plants.

Potential sites have been identified across Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and the Czech Republic, with sites typically located in high energy demand industrial centres or conurbations.

Assessment has been carried out against a consistent set of technical, environmental, and infrastructure criteria, including grid connectivity, access to cooling and heat recovery systems, and the ability to repurpose existing energy infrastructure.

A final site selection is expected by the end of 2027.

Read more: Gauss forges European pacts to further fusion gigaplant plans

Frédérick Bordry, chief technology officer at Gauss, said the study “marks the transition from design to deployment. It has provided Gauss Fusion with a robust methodology and geospatial database to systematically assess potential fusion sites across Europe.”

He added with the study’s framework, “we can evaluate any new location proposed by governments or partners using consistent, transparent, and evidence-based criteria, turning Europe’s pathway to fusion energy into a practical, actionable reality”.

The results of the study will now be discussed with European governments, industry partners, and regulators across the continent, as Gauss Fusion moves forward with those engagements.

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In an exclusive interview with me at Enlit Europe in Bilbao, Roveda said that Gauss and its partners were targeting “the beginning of the 2040s” for completion of the first plant – intended to be the first of several.

And she stressed the importance of collaboration: “This is about the whole supply chain… the supply chain needs to be built first. It’s not about one company alone – it’s about bringing a whole industry to life.”

Watch the Energy Transitions podcast with Milena Roveda, recorded at Enlit Europe in Bilbao, below.