The Munich company "Marvel Fusion" wants to settle in Penzberg and develop a fusion power plant there that produces CO2-free energy.
According to their own statements, the Scientific Advisory Board also includes a Nobel Prize winner in physics.
Allegedly it is about an investment of around two billion euros.
The company presented itself in the town hall on Tuesday evening.
Marvel Fusion wants to produce climate-neutral electricity with a fusion power plant
Company wants to build demonstration plant in Penzberg
The total investment would be around two billion euros
Penzberg - "We want to make a contribution to stopping climate change." The company "Marvel Fusion" prefixed this sentence to its presentation in the Penzberg city council on Tuesday evening.
According to the company, the goal is to develop a commercial fusion power plant that is based on laser technology and produces CO2-free energy.
"We have to find ways to meet global energy needs without conventional sources," said managing director Moritz von der Linden in the town hall.
The company was founded in July 2019.
The seat is in Munich.
According to its own information, it currently consists of 30 employees.
Its science and technology advisory board includes Gerard Mourou, who received the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics for inventions in the field of laser physics.
Marvel Fusion: Nobel Prize Winner on Science Advisory Board
“Marvel Fusion” first wants to build a demonstration system called “Proxima” on an urban plot of land in the Nonnenwald industrial park.
According to the company, construction is scheduled to start in May 2021.
With the facility, it wants to provide “proof of the laser-induced inertial fusion concept”.
On Tuesday, Von der Linden spoke of "experiments that are unique in the world".
It has only been three years now that commercial fusion power plants have been possible.
First a demonstration system, then a prototype in Penzberg
If the proof is successful, the prototype of a fusion power plant called "Antares" will be built - also in the nun forest.
"Marvel Fusion", which would also relocate its headquarters to Penzberg, wants to create around 150 new jobs in Penzberg by 2023, and by 2028 it should be 500.
In addition, one is dependent on suppliers who may settle in Penzberg or the vicinity, it said.
As “Marvel Fusion” announced on Wednesday, around 200 to 300 million euros are to be invested in the first step, the “Proxima” demonstration system.
For the “Antares” prototype, it should be around 1.5 to 2 billion euros.
Investors, it was said, include the fund “BlueYard Capital”, Albert Wenger as a private investor (he is also managing partner of the New York fund “Union Square Ventures”) and industrial investors.
Marvel Fusion wants to buy urban land in the Nonnenwald industrial park
The project had already been presented to the Penzberg city council behind closed doors.
This was repeated in a public setting on Tuesday evening.
The property on which “Marvel Fusion” wants to set up is located behind the Penzberg printing center next to the Roche plant.
It belongs to the city.
The city council must first approve the sale of the approximately 29,000 square meter property - this should happen this year, the city said.
Marvel Fusion: Truck technology plays an important role
Things got complicated on Tuesday when it came to technology.
The talk was of laser technology, artificial intelligence, quantum computers and precision robotics.
A fusion of hydrogen protons and boron isotopes takes place by means of laser energy, from which positively charged helium particles arise, it said.
Von der Linden stated that no long-lived radioactive products were created.
There is also no risk of an uncontrollable chain reaction.
The result is a safe, virtually inexhaustible, low-neutron fuel.
According to physicist Jörn Meissner, who is responsible for radiation protection in the company, safety is guaranteed at all times.
If the laser is switched off, the fusion ends.
Marvel Fusion Reaches Out About Radioactivity
When asked, Meissner said on Wednesday that it was a safe system for employees and the environment.
In terms of radiological classification, the inertial fusion facility is similar to a cancer therapy facility, for example the West German Proton Therapy Center in Essen or any other proton therapy center.
In the case of “Marvel Fusion”, a laser-driven proton beam hits boron and is supposed to trigger a fusion reaction.
Boron compounds are used, for example, in the detergent industry on an industrial scale and are radiologically harmless.
During the fusion, so Meissner further, a proton beam hits parts of the plant, with a low level of radioactivity.
According to the company, the spare and wear parts come to die out - this takes about 20 days - in a 30 square meter room.
There is neither a delivery nor a removal of radioactive material, it said.
The representatives of TÜV Süd declared on Tuesday in the town hall that the construction and operation of the building could be approved under the Radiation Protection Act.
The pollution is far below the natural radiation exposure, according to TÜV Süd, which advises the company “Marvel Fusion” on technical issues.
According to von der Linden, the prototype in Penzberg should already be used to generate electricity - on Tuesday he spoke of a 100 megawatt output.
The electricity market will probably not enter the electricity market until 2030, it was said on Wednesday when asked.
"Marvel Fusion" stated that the goal was an electricity price of five cents per kilowatt hour.
Reactions in the city council: from "world sensation" to "a little stomachache"
The Penzberg city council has not yet approved the sale of the municipal property to “Marvel Fusion”.
The parliamentary groups were all more or less positive on Tuesday.
Mayor Stefan Korpan (CSU) spoke of “visionary research”.
If it works with the CO2-neutral energy, it would be "a world sensation," he said.
CSU parliamentary group leader Christine Geiger spoke of a "very ambitious project" and a "great future opportunity not only for Penzberg, but beyond".
Economic advisor Aleksandar Trifunovic (CSU) said, "The energy and environmental problems of all humanity could be solved here in the nun forest".
Together with the Roche company and the Fraunhofer Institute - it wants to locate its pandemic research in the nun forest - "one of the most important high-tech locations in Germany" is being created.
Question in the city council: Why to Penzberg of all places?
But why does “Marvel Fusion” want to go to Penzberg of all places?
Jack Eberl (FLP) asked that.
"We are a Bavarian company and want to build in Bavaria," said Jörn Meissner.
In the Penzberg Nonnenwald they found a substrate without vibration properties, which he says is important for the current generation of lasers.
Moritz von der Linden also tried to explain that the company remains in Germany with the help of big politics.
In the field of tension between the USA and China, they want a secure legal system and a high-tech location away from geopolitical tensions.
Kerstin Engel (Greens) said she welcomed the new technology.
They are urgently needed to stop climate change.
A “great technology”, says John-Christian Eilert (Greens).
The radioactivity raises concerns, Engel said.
It is therefore important that transparency is created.
When she asked what happens to the plant if the project fails, Mayor Korpan said it was the job of the State Office for Environmental Protection (the licensing authority for the plant) to ensure that the city gets back an unpolluted property.
When Engel asked about the trade tax, company boss Moritz von der Linden replied that the suppliers would be more likely to pay.
But it is also in the interest of “Marvel Fusion” to pay trade tax as early as possible - because this means, conversely, that the company is commercially successful.
Armin Jabs (BfP) asked why the company was so certain that it was on the verge of a breakthrough - which, however, he received no guarantee on Tuesday.
Markus Bocksberger (PM) said that he liked CO-free energy, but that “there is still a bit of a stomachache”.
The technical process must be harmless.
His group, said Bocksberger, could only approve if the trust of his group and the citizens had been won.
When asked when electricity would be fed into the Penzberg network, von der Linden replied that this could be in eight or ten years.
Adrian Leinweber (SPD) praised the transparency.
This is the only way to advance new technologies.
His group is behind the issue
Information on Marvel Fusion
The city of Penzberg has put the presentation of “Marvel Fusion” on its website “www.penzberg.de”.
According to the mayor, 50 citizens ("mediators") were also written to for an opinion.
Other interested parties should get in touch: E-mail to "medien@penzberg.de".