HB11 Energy Awarded $22 Million Laser Project

May 02, 2022. By News Bureau

HB11 Energy, the first laser fusion energy company in Australia, has been awarded a $22 million project to establish the next-generation high-power lasers required to create a multi-billion dollar nuclear fusion energy industry in Australia for global export.

HB11 Energy will aid in the proof-of-concept and advancement of new petawatt laser technology that is suited to generating hydrogen-boron fusion.

Making this capability on home soil would also re-establish Australia as a leader in fusion technology, after Australian physicist Sir Mark Oliphant first experimentally demonstrated nuclear fusion by splitting the atom in 1932.

This project forms part of a $50 million Trailblazer grant awarded to the University of Adelaide and the University of New South Wales under the "Defence Trailblazer for Concept to Sovereign Capability" bid. It comprises a $6 million grant and $16 million in contributions from partners.

The $22 million project is imperative not just to HB11 Energy, but to all industries and companies working with technologies dependent on high-powered lasers: biomedical engineering, quantum computing, semiconductor manufacturing, and proton and related medical therapies.

Dr. Warren McKenzie, Founder & MD, HB11, said: "We could not be more pleased with the outcome of this grant, and to have supported the submission made by the University of Adelaide and UNSW. The nuclear fusion energy industry alone could create billions in economic value for Australia, as long as we continue to see significant investment from Australian investors and governments. If HB11 Energy's research program is successful, it will place Australia at the heart of an industry deploying the only truly safe, scalable, and extremely low-cost future energy.”

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