Thats been around for a while. Last I heard the expected time for it to be put to practical use for energy was well beyond 20 years.
The fact that putting this to use would cut millions of jobs and severely dampen the income of some oil hotshots isn't helping with getting the US or any other major oil investor to invest in this among other things. Have you noticed that all of the countries mentioned in the article have very little involvement with oil? Sorry to sound a bit like a conspiracy theorist but it is a little true.