Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Commonwealth Fusion Systems successfully tested the world's most powerful high-temperature superconducting magnet in a step toward building a fusion power plant to generate carbon-free power. Italian energy group Eni is a shareholder in CFS, a fusion energy research company spun off by MIT, after investing $50 million in 2018 and led CFS' Series A funding.

CFS, MIT and Eni announced the test results on Wednesday. The test showed that the superconducting magnet built by MIT and CFS could generate a sustained magnetic field powerful enough for a CFS device to achieve net energy from fusion, which CFS said was a historic first.