A new statewide fund will push research into the elusive energy source that, if successful, could nearly provide power rivaling that of the sun.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed into law Assembly Bill 80 from Sens. Anna Caballero, D-Merced, and Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, providing $100 million annually to labs and startups in California to research fusion energy.

“Fusion energy has the immense potential to provide consistent, clean baseload power on demand that will help us meet our clean energy goals,” Caballero said in a statement. “This is why I am proud to have authored SB 80, which provides an avenue for the state to invest directly in California’s fusion energy economy and help retain talented researchers in our state.”

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Public Funding to Help Startups, Laboratories

In 2022, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved a major breakthrough in the decades-long pursuit of feasible fusion energy.

For a fraction of a second they sustained a fusion process, combining two hydrogen isotopes to create helium. More importantly, they created more energy than it took to perform the process.

Scientists liken the fusion energy race to that of the atomic and space races. The first to develop fusion energy will have access to a plentiful, clean energy source without radioactive waste or the dangers of traditional fission facilities, said Mike Campbell, owner of MCM Consultants and professor of practice at UC San Diego in a previous interview with GV Wire.

While $100 million may not be much in the scope of fusion energy research — China provided $1.5 billion in public funding in 2024 — researchers say the disparate approach taken by the U.S.’s plethora of laboratories allows for multiple problems to be tackled at once.

SB 80 creates a commission to approve and distribute funds to eligible recipients with the goal to have fusion energy by the 2030s.