Commonwealth Fusion Systems' declared target for net energy gain at SPARC
Commonwealth Fusion Systems has publicly stated that it targets first plasma at SPARC in 2026 and net energy gain, Q greater than 1, in 2027, and separately that it aims to put power on the grid from the ARC plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia in the early 2030s. These are company announcements about a machine that has not yet operated. They are recorded here as declared targets — not forecasts, not independent assessments, and not evidence of any outcome.
Planned — a programme target or declared plan, from a source that declared it. Never a prediction.
Subjects
- SPARC · research facility · United States · not located
- Private fusion sector · industry sector · not located
- Tokamak (toroidal magnetic confinement) · confinement concept · not located
- Fusion energy gain (Q) and target gain · physical quantity · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent. This is the standing of the weakest source, not an average.
SPARC: Proving commercial fusion energy is possible — declared programme targets
The private sector's commercial fusion dates are company-declared targets for machines that have not yet operated, not independently assessed forecasts
Commonwealth Fusion Systems · 2025 · Partly verified
Commonwealth Fusion Systems programme page cfs.energy/technology/sparc/ and company statements accompanying its July 2025 $1 bn equity raise; declared targets of first plasma in 2026, Q greater than 1 in 2027, and grid power from the ARC plant at Chesterfield County, Virginia in the early 2030s
The Global Fusion Industry in 2025
Scale, growth and self-reported funding of the private fusion sector, and the sector's own statement that access to funding remains a major challenge
Fusion Industry Association · 2025-07 · Partly verified
Fusion Industry Association annual Global Fusion Industry Report 2025, fusionindustryassociation.org; 53 companies surveyed, cumulative funding about $9.7 bn, about $2.64 bn raised in the twelve months to July 2025, roughly a five-fold increase since 2021
Recorded on SPARC
- JET's DTE1 campaign sets the first deuterium-tritium fusion power record
- JET's DTE2 campaign releases 59 MJ in a single pulse
- NIF achieves target gain greater than unity for the first time
- NIF repeats target gain and raises the yield to 3.88 MJ
- JET sets the single-pulse fusion energy record of 69.26 MJ
- ITER presents an updated project baseline to the ITER Council
- NIF achieves ignition for the sixth time
- EAST sustains a high-confinement plasma for 1,066 seconds
- NIF reaches 8.6 MJ yield and a target gain of 4.13
- Commonwealth Fusion Systems' declared target for net energy gain at SPARC
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- NIF reaches 8.6 MJ yield and a target gain of 4.13 · 2025-04-07
- EAST sustains a high-confinement plasma for 1,066 seconds · 2025-01-20
- NIF achieves ignition for the sixth time · 2024-11-18
- ITER presents an updated project baseline to the ITER Council · 2024-06-19
- JET sets the single-pulse fusion energy record of 69.26 MJ · 2023-10-03
- NIF repeats target gain and raises the yield to 3.88 MJ · 2023-07-30
- NIF achieves target gain greater than unity for the first time · 2022-12-05
- JET's DTE2 campaign releases 59 MJ in a single pulse · 2021-12