DRAFT

A major work in progress.

This vision is still taking shape. Ideas, plans, and teams will evolve.

Massachusetts 2035 · 07 / 10

Energy

You will have unlimited clean power

The moonshot

Be the Leader in Fusion

We will be the leader in fusion: invent it here, build the machines here, train the people here, and bring commercial fusion power to our grid. Back Commonwealth Fusion Systems, compete for future plants, and build the supply chain that makes Massachusetts the home of the fusion economy. Build data centers in Massachusetts and the clean power and grid capacity to run them. Make energy abundance and AI infrastructure a growth priority.

The opportunity

A picture of 2035

A student who first visited an energy company at 15 becomes a technician at 18. Years later, she helps commission a clean-power plant in the Commonwealth. Local factories grow because power is reliable and competitively priced. Nearby data centers power AI tools used by citizens, researchers, and local companies. New generation and grid upgrades support that growth.

Better in three dimensions

Every initiative has the same test: improve quality, lower prices, and reach more people.

Quality: A better experience, with safer, more reliable results.
Affordability: Lower prices and more value for the money you spend.
Access: More people can use it, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances.

What we can build on

Commonwealth Fusion Systems is building SPARC in Devens to demonstrate net fusion energy. Its first planned commercial ARC plant is in Virginia. Massachusetts has a powerful research and manufacturing base from which to compete for future projects and suppliers. 8, 9

The gap to close

A fusion experiment is not a commercial power plant, and commercial power is not automatically cheap. The state needs lower bills and dependable capacity before any one breakthrough arrives. Transmission, interconnection, winter supply, and project economics all matter.

The work starts here.

Top three key initiatives

Engineers develop a fusion facility and its supporting manufacturing skills

Bring the next commercial fusion opportunity home

Offer Commonwealth Fusion Systems and other qualified developers a serious package of site options, workforce support, grid studies, and predictable reviews. Assess Devens and suitable former industrial or power sites on their merits, with host communities involved early.

Compete for a future Massachusetts commercial project and the supply chain around it. Tie incentives to agreed milestones and local benefits. Do not describe a company's Virginia project as already coming here or treat scientific net energy as electricity delivered to customers.

Rooftop and community solar with battery storage serve homes and businesses

Build solar now alongside a portfolio of clean power

Build solar now on suitable rooftops, parking canopies, brownfields, and community-solar sites. Pair projects with storage, faster interconnection, and programs that let renters and households with unsuitable roofs participate. Show the full delivered cost and customer savings; protect valuable habitat and farmland through careful siting. Solar can make useful power while fusion is still developing, but needs a system that meets demand after sunset and through winter.

Keep a diversified portfolio: advance deep-geothermal demonstrations and assess advanced nuclear options alongside fusion, solar, storage, and demand flexibility. Invite Quaise and other qualified developers to compete at suitable sites. Evaluate safety, waste, water, construction risk, and full delivered cost for each technology. Coordinate predictable state reviews while retaining applicable federal licensing, environmental review, and meaningful public participation.

Utility crews modernize power lines, substations, storage, and local reliability

Build data centers and the grid to power them

Build data centers in Massachusetts. Treat compute as infrastructure for the companies, research, and AI tools we want people to build here. Recruit projects, identify suitable sites, and coordinate predictable reviews with new generation, transmission, and interconnection. Plan the power and compute together.

Use data centers as anchor customers for additional clean power. Require operators to cover the grid upgrades and capacity their projects need, with enforceable protections for household utility bills. Site projects where the grid and watershed can support them, use efficient cooling, publish energy and water use, and establish drought protections. Build the capacity and take responsibility for its impact.

Seek joint procurement with willing New England states for dependable clean capacity. Coordinate transmission and interconnection work with the relevant grid institutions. Share costs according to benefits and enforceable contracts, rather than assuming a regional agreement already exists.

Add storage, grid modernization, demand flexibility, and resilient local systems while new generation develops. Use AI-assisted controls where they demonstrably improve operation. Keep a published winter-reliability plan so the fusion bet strengthens an energy strategy that works under multiple timelines.

The supporting work

Demonstrate superhot geothermal

Evaluate a Massachusetts well with qualified developers and independent technical review. Reusing a former power site could lower costs, but drilling performance and site suitability must be established before committing to generation.

Reduce winter price shocks

Procure storage and flexibility where they lower full system costs. Assess firm fuel and capacity needs during the transition. Publish the tradeoffs, contractual exposure, and exit conditions for any bridge supply.

Fix the interconnection queue

Coordinate utility studies, site planning, and grid upgrades. Identify locations with usable capacity and make connection timelines visible. Building a plant or a factory should not mean discovering the grid constraints last.

Make data centers anchor customers for new power

Recruit data-center investment alongside new clean generation and grid capacity. Design tariffs and procurement rules so major data centers and other new loads cover the infrastructure and capacity they cause. Use enforceable contracts to protect households from speculative project risk and stranded costs.

Train the people who build and operate the system

Connect CFS, other developers, unions, schools, UMass Lowell, and community colleges through workforce agreements. Offer age-appropriate workplace exposure, paid apprenticeships, and adult retraining in fabrication, controls, electrical work, and operations.

The path to 2035

Proposed milestones. Expand against evidence, delivery, and public value.

2027
Put the offer and the grid plan on the table
Publish candidate-site studies and a proposal for future fusion investment. Establish coordinated reviews, an energy workforce compact, and a winter-capacity plan. Start geothermal and advanced-nuclear assessments where there is a willing host. Identify data-center sites with realistic power, interconnection, and water plans, and publish the terms for operators to fund the infrastructure they need.
2029
Advance the projects that prove themselves
Use SPARC's actual results and other developers' evidence to update commercial plans. Seek regional procurement commitments, expand economical storage, and publish interconnection improvements and household-bill effects.
2031
Turn readiness into construction
Aim to have a qualified commercial clean-power project under construction in Massachusetts, subject to technology, permits, financing, and contracts. Expand fusion components and manufacturing even while commercial generation is being developed. Bring qualified data-center and grid projects into construction with contracted power and enforceable local protections.
2035
Lead the fusion economy
Pursue commercial fusion power in Massachusetts and a globally competitive supplier base. Aim for lower household energy burdens and stronger reliability through a diversified system. Report electricity delivered and full customer cost, not just scientific milestones.

Questions & answers

What happens if fusion takes longer?

The plan still builds grid capacity, storage, efficient demand, other firm-clean options, and an industrial workforce. Stage fusion commitments against evidence. Keep the research ambition large while making near-term reliability independent of a single company's schedule.

Does removing a permitting barrier remove safety review?

No. Propose changes through the appropriate legal process and retain all applicable licensing. Evaluate each reactor or geothermal design on its actual characteristics. Labels such as advanced or small do not substitute for project-specific safety and cost evidence.

Will ratepayers fund a speculative experiment?

Disclose equity, public grants, guarantees, power contracts, and decommissioning obligations. Cap public exposure at each stage. Private capital and regional procurement can help, but neither eliminates risk. Judge success by reliable power at a defensible delivered price.

Why build more data centers here?

AI needs physical infrastructure. Build it here so Massachusetts can grow the companies, research, tools, and skilled work around it. Pair new compute with additional power and grid capacity, make operators pay their share, and protect local water supplies. The goal is more capacity with clear responsibility for the costs and impacts.

Show the results.

The public scorecard

These are the measures we would publish to judge progress.

Household energy burden
Delivered electricity cost
Outage duration
Firm capacity
Interconnection time
Massachusetts manufacturing jobs
Public financial exposure
Data-center capacity and infrastructure investment
Additional power contracted for large new loads
Operator-funded grid upgrades
Data-center water withdrawals and consumption

Sources & context

Plans and proposals are distinguished from existing activity. Source notes include relevant dates and context.

[8] Commonwealth Fusion Systems: SPARC
SPARC is the Devens demonstration program for net fusion energy and technology development for a later commercial power plant.
[9] Commonwealth Fusion Systems: ARC
CFS identifies Virginia as the location of its first planned commercial ARC plant. A future Massachusetts commercial plant is a proposal in this vision.

The team

Announcing in 2028

One team lead. Eleven support team members. We’ll unveil the energy team in 2028.

Team lead — to be announced in 2028
Support team member 1 — to be announced in 2028
Support team member 2 — to be announced in 2028
Support team member 3 — to be announced in 2028
Support team member 4 — to be announced in 2028
Support team member 5 — to be announced in 2028
Support team member 6 — to be announced in 2028
Support team member 7 — to be announced in 2028
Support team member 8 — to be announced in 2028
Support team member 9 — to be announced in 2028
Support team member 10 — to be announced in 2028
Support team member 11 — to be announced in 2028

People are already building.

Work already underway

Interesting initiatives from state government, public institutions, companies, and nonprofits working on energy in Massachusetts.

State-backed

Climatetech from prototype to market

Massachusetts Clean Energy Center

MassCEC supports Massachusetts climate-technology researchers and companies with grants and investment, helping move technologies from early prototypes toward commercial use.

Explore the initiative

Private company

SPARC in Devens

Commonwealth Fusion Systems

CFS is building SPARC in Devens to demonstrate net fusion energy and develop technology for a later commercial power plant. SPARC is a research and demonstration project, not a power plant supplying the grid.