A bill to help attract nuclear fusion energy ventures to Washington is working its way through the state legislature.  

House Bill 1018 would allow developers of fusion projects to approach either the Washington state government or appropriate county government for permission to build on a parcel of land in the state. That would give fusion projects the same options that solar and wind energy ventures have in picking their approving authority.  

Most solar and wind developers in Washington have chosen the state as the entity less likely to bow to local opposition to a project.  

The state pathway in Washington is through the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC), a committee of representatives from several state government departments. EFSEC makes recommendations to the governor, who issues final decisions. 

The Washington House approved HB 1018 95-1 on Feb 6, and the bill is now in the Senate’s Environment, Energy and Technology Committee.  

The Puget Sound area now boasts five fusion-related ventures. They include Helion Energy, which is working to provide fusion power to Microsoft by 2028; Zap Energy and Avalanche Energy, which are also working to develop fusion reactors; and ExoFusion and a subsidiary of Japan-based Kyoto Fusioneering, which are developing fusion-related technologies. 

Helion and a separate project at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have achieved fusion reactions that release more energy than went into the reactor. Based in Everett, Wash., Helion in January landed $425 million in funding from various investors. 

At a Jan. 20 House committee hearing on the bill, Helion representative Tom Bugert did not commit to a specific timeline for when fusion power would be commercially viable, but said “it’s right around the corner.”  

“I believe fusion energy is the future of clean energy. … This bill will attract cutting-edge research,” said Rep. Clyde Shavers (D), the bill’s sponsor. No one spoke in opposition to the bill during the hearing. 

Meanwhile, three other bills involving EFSEC died in committee because no action was taken on them by the Feb. 28 deadline to leave their committees. These were:  

• • House Bill 1188, which would have required affected tribes and the host county to approve an energy project before EFSEC makes its recommendations to the governor. The bill was a Republican response to EFSEC last year recommending that then-Gov. Jay Inslee approve a large wind farm in the Horse Heaven Hills area of Central Washington despite opposition from the Benton County government and local residents. Inslee approved the project. (See Wash. Gov. Approves Controversial Wind Farm.) 

• • Senate Bill 5283, which would have prohibited EFSEC from ignoring land use or zoning laws for siting electrical battery storage facilities in environmentally sensitive areas. The bill also represented a GOP reaction to EFSEC overruling Benton County’s land use and zoning laws. 

• • House Bill 1237, which was Democratic legislation that would have required a public hearing prior to an EFSEC recommendation in which the council determines that a proposed site is not complying with applicable land use plans or zoning ordinances.