DEVENS — Massachusetts has a history of being at the forefront of revolutions.
The first shot in the American Revolution was fired in Concord, and the Industrial Revolution was fueled by the mill towns and cities along the Merrimack River — both of which, Democratic U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan pointed out, took place in the state’s third district, which she represents.
Now, Trahan’s district can add a third revolution to the list — leading the charge in the clean energy revolution with the ribbon cutting for Commonwealth Fusion Systems' new commercial fusion campus Friday in Devens, attended by U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.
This facility represents a pivotal step toward achieving full commercialization for fusion energy, housing SPARC, a device that uses high-temperature superconducting magnets to produce fusion and become a model for fusion power plants.
Along with Trahan and Granholm were other elected officials and policy leaders, including U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll.
Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Rebecca Tepper and state Secretary of Economic Development Yvonne Hao also attended the ribbon cutting.
'Starting point' for fusion power
"It’s a starting point," said Dennis Whyte, a co-founder of CFS and director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center. "What we’re really after is having fusion produce massive amounts of clean safe energy and we’re still in the race towards that."
