IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2504.11072.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Fusion for high-value heat production

Author

Listed:
  • S. H. Ward
  • M. Majeed
  • N. J. Lopes Cardozo

Abstract

Global consumption of heat is vast and difficult to decarbonise, but it could present an opportunity for commercial fusion energy technology. The economics of supplying heat with fusion energy are explored in context of a future decarbonised energy system. A simple, generalised model is used to estimate the impact of selling heat on profitability, and compare it to selling electricity, for a variety of fusion proposed power plant permutations described in literature. Heat production has the potential to significantly improve the financial performance of fusion over selling electricity. Upon entering a highly electrified energy system, fusion should aim to operate as a grid-scale heat pump, avoiding both electrical conversion and recirculation costs whilst exploiting firm demand for high-value heat. This strategy is relatively high-risk, high-reward, but options are identified for hedging these risks. We also identify and discuss new avenues for competition in this domain, which would not exist if fusion supplies electricity only.

Suggested Citation

  • S. H. Ward & M. Majeed & N. J. Lopes Cardozo, 2025. "Fusion for high-value heat production," Papers 2504.11072, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2504.11072
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.11072
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Bistline & Geoffrey Blanford & Maxwell Brown & Dallas Burtraw & Maya Domeshek & Jamil Farbes & Allen Fawcett & Anne Hamilton & Jesse Jenkins & Ryan Jones & Ben King & Hannah Kolus & John Larsen &, 2023. "Emissions and Energy Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act," Papers 2307.01443, arXiv.org.
    2. Grubler, Arnulf, 2010. "The costs of the French nuclear scale-up: A case of negative learning by doing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 5174-5188, September.
    3. Nam, Hoseok & Ibano, Kenzo & Konishi, Satoshi, 2020. "Cost analysis and energy return on investment of fuel cell and gas turbine integrated fusion-biomass hybrid system; application of a small scale conceptual fusion reactor GNOME," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    4. Atif Ansar & Bent Flyvbjerg, 2022. "How to solve big problems: bespoke versus platform strategies," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 38(2), pages 338-368.
    5. Gahyung Jo & Jae-Min Kwon & Ara Cho & Hyun-Kyung Chung & Bong-Guen Hong, 2021. "Cost Assessment of a Tokamak Fusion Reactor with an Inventive Method for Optimum Build Determination," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.
    6. Entler, Slavomir & Horacek, Jan & Dlouhy, Tomas & Dostal, Vaclav, 2018. "Approximation of the economy of fusion energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 489-497.
    7. Ricks, Wilson & Norbeck, Jack & Jenkins, Jesse, 2022. "The value of in-reservoir energy storage for flexible dispatch of geothermal power," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    8. Turnbull, D. & Glaser, A. & Goldston, R.J., 2015. "Investigating the value of fusion energy using the Global Change Assessment Model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 346-353.
    9. Aghahosseini, Arman & Breyer, Christian, 2020. "From hot rock to useful energy: A global estimate of enhanced geothermal systems potential," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    10. Zahra Janipour & Vincent de Gooyert & Mark Huijbregts & Heleen de Coninck, 2022. "Industrial clustering as a barrier and an enabler for deep emission reduction: a case study of a Dutch chemical cluster," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 320-338, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aghahosseini, Arman & Solomon, A.A. & Breyer, Christian & Pregger, Thomas & Simon, Sonja & Strachan, Peter & Jäger-Waldau, Arnulf, 2023. "Energy system transition pathways to meet the global electricity demand for ambitious climate targets and cost competitiveness," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    2. Tiruwork B. Tibebu & Eric Hittinger & Qing Miao & Eric Williams, 2024. "Adoption Model Choice Affects the Optimal Subsidy for Residential Solar," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-19, February.
    3. Gerbaulet, Clemens & von Hirschhausen, Christian & Kemfert, Claudia & Lorenz, Casimir & Oei, Pao-Yu, 2019. "European electricity sector decarbonization under different levels of foresight," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 141, pages 973-987.
    4. Kiriyama, Eriko & Kajikawa, Yuya & Fujita, Katsuhide & Iwata, Shuichi, 2013. "A lead for transvaluation of global nuclear energy research and funded projects in Japan," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 145-153.
    5. Herve Kabanda & Alex Romard & Fuze Yurtsever & Anjali Wadhera & Joshua Andrews & Craig Merrett, 2021. "Construction Time Estimation Function for Canadian Utility Scale Power Plants," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-16, August.
    6. Quentin Perrier, 2017. "The French Nuclear Bet," Working Papers 2017.18, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    7. Samadi, Sascha, 2018. "The experience curve theory and its application in the field of electricity generation technologies – A literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2346-2364.
    8. Lovering, Jessica R. & Yip, Arthur & Nordhaus, Ted, 2016. "Historical construction costs of global nuclear power reactors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 371-382.
    9. Čábelková, Inna & Strielkowski, Wadim & Streimikiene, Dalia & Cavallaro, Fausto & Streimikis, Justas, 2021. "The social acceptance of nuclear fusion for decision making towards carbon free circular economy: Evidence from Czech Republic," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    10. Zhang, Bo & Guo, Tiankui & Qu, Zhanqing & Wang, Jiwei & Chen, Ming & Liu, Xiaoqiang, 2023. "Numerical simulation of fracture propagation and production performance in a fractured geothermal reservoir using a 2D FEM-based THMD coupling model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    11. Zhang, Jiansong & Liu, Yongsheng & Lv, Jianguo & Yang, Gansheng & Xia, Jianxin, 2024. "Comparative investigation of heat extraction performance in 3D self-affine rough single fractures using CO2,N2O and H2O as heat transfer fluid," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    12. Sven-Olof Fridolfsson and Thomas P. Tangeras, 2015. "Nuclear Capacity Auctions," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    13. Agnieszka Operacz & Agnieszka Zachora-Buławska & Izabela Strzelecka & Mariusz Buda & Bogusław Bielec & Karolina Migdał & Tomasz Operacz, 2022. "The Standard Geothermal Plant as an Innovative Combined Renewable Energy Resources System: The Case from South Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-23, September.
    14. Dong, Weijie & He, Guoqing & Cui, Quansheng & Sun, Wenwen & Hu, Zhenlong & Ahli raad, Erfan, 2022. "Self-scheduling of a novel hybrid GTSOFC unit in day-ahead energy and spinning reserve markets within ancillary services using a novel energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    15. Banacloche, Santacruz & Gamarra, Ana R. & Lechon, Yolanda & Bustreo, Chiara, 2020. "Socioeconomic and environmental impacts of bringing the sun to earth: A sustainability analysis of a fusion power plant deployment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    16. Linares, Pedro & Conchado, Adela, 2013. "The economics of new nuclear power plants in liberalized electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(S1), pages 119-125.
    17. Kang, Fangchao & Jia, Tianrang & Li, Yingchun & Deng, Jianhui & Tang, Chun'an & Huang, Xin, 2021. "Experimental study on the physical and mechanical variations of hot granite under different cooling treatments," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1316-1328.
    18. Yawei Xue & Chunqian Zhu & Yuchen Lu, 2025. "Research on the Influence Mechanism of New Energy Vehicle Promotion Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-20, April.
    19. Bolinger, Mark & Millstein, Dev & Gorman, Will & Dobson, Patrick & Jeong, Seongeun, 2023. "Mind the gap: Comparing the net value of geothermal, wind, solar, and solar+storage in the Western United States," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 999-1009.
    20. Charlie Wilson & Arnulf Grubler, 2011. "Lessons from the history of technological change for clean energy scenarios and policies," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(3), pages 165-184, August.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2504.11072. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.