Proxima Fusion forms board to push fusion toward industrial scale

Proxima Fusion has put a new industrial development board around its fusion program, bringing in former EDF chief executive Luc Rémont, former Bosch executive Michael Bolle, former European Commission director-general Ann Mettler and E.ON chair Erich Clementi to push the company beyond physics milestones and into industrial deployment.

The Munich-based startup said the board is meant to accelerate the shift from fusion science to large-scale industrial deployment. That matters because Proxima’s challenge is no longer only whether stellarator physics can work, but whether the company can line up the manufacturing, procurement, financing and regulatory machinery needed to build repeatable hardware at scale.

The timing also reflects how Proxima is positioning its roadmap. The company’s Alpha device is its demonstration stellarator, with a target of net fusion energy in 2031. Coverage has placed Alpha near the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Garching, while Stellaris, Proxima’s planned commercial power plant, is slated for Gundremmingen, the former nuclear fission site being decommissioned by RWE. Proxima first published the Stellaris concept in February 2025 as what it called the world’s first integrated concept for a commercial fusion power plant.

That makes the new board a commercialization test, not a ceremonial advisory group. Rémont brings utility-scale power experience from EDF. Bolle brings manufacturing and industrial systems knowledge from Bosch. Mettler adds Brussels policy fluency from the European Commission side, and Clementi brings a grid and corporate energy perspective from E.ON. Together, the board is set up to address the bottlenecks that often slow new energy technologies: supply-chain readiness, industrial partners, site preparation, regulatory framing and investor confidence.

Proxima’s move also lands just after industry leaders pressed Brussels for a stronger policy framework. An open letter in May called on the European Commission to create an EU Fusion Strategy and treat fusion as a strategic priority for competitiveness, energy security and net-zero. It also urged a clear regulatory pathway distinct from fission, along with stronger supply chains and workforce capabilities.

For Proxima, the next 12 to 24 months will be about whether that industrial scaffolding can translate into concrete progress on component sourcing, factory partnerships, siting and preparation for the regulatory path ahead. The company, founded in 2023 as a spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, has already raised €130 million in a financing round described by the Max Planck Society as the largest private funding round in fusion at the time. The new board is meant to help make sure that money buys not just research momentum, but a credible route from lab-class hardware to a buildable machine.