Fervo Energy’s goal is to make geothermal energy the country’s “most dependable and affordable source of clean, 24/7 power.” The Houston-based company says it can meet growing demand from the country’s power buyers seeking affordable, reliable, and clean energy sources.
The company builds on expertise from the oil and gas industry to drill horizontally in geothermal reservoirs using precision directional drilling technology. Fervo then installs fiber-optic cables in the wells to gather and analyze real-time data about the resource, providing “unique insights into subsurface behavior at a resolution never before possible” and enabling the company to identify the best resources and optimize heat-mining efficiency. Fervo taps into resources by pumping cold water underground, where it is heated by the Earth, then bringing it back up. Fervo’s enhanced geothermal system (EGS) uses Modern Organic Rankine Cycle generation technology to convert this heat into electricity. “We are just using the heat from rock under the earth rather than steam directly to create electricity,” Senior Vice President of Strategy Sarah Jewett told Newsweek.
CEO Tim Latimer previously worked in the oil and gas industry, but as he wrote on social media, “I loved the work, but I was passionate about climate change. I saw all the tech advancement around me and realized that it could be used for geothermal energy.” Because the process relies on technologies already developed by other industries, “we have a unique opportunity to begin scaling rapidly today, tapping into the skilled workforce of the oil industry for a new clean energy resource,” the company says.
Photo Courtesy Fervo Energy
In 2023, Fervo conducted a successful 30-day well test at a commercial pilot plant in Nevada, whose energy output Google contracted for in 2021 to power its data center operations, which the company called “the most productive enhanced geothermal system in history.” Later that year, the company broke ground on another project at Cape Station in Utah, which it expects to become the world’s biggest enhanced geothermal project by capacity, generating 80 times more power than the site in Nevada. The project is set to begin delivering power this year, achieve 100 MW of operating capacity by next year, and reach full-scale production of 500 MW by 2028. The company plans to drill more than 100 geothermal wells in the area. In March, Fervo announced a successful drilling appraisal campaign in Millard County, Utah, where the company drilled the hottest well in its history, above 555°F at a depth of around 11,200 feet, in less than eleven days.
Notably, the project is located near the Utah FORGE project, a geothermal field laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by the Energy & Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah, which also uses horizontal drilling and fiber-optic sensing tools.
Photo Courtesy Fervo Energy
Following a $462 million Series E funding round announced in December, Fervo in March announced $421 million in non-recourse debt financing to support the first phase of the Cape Station project. “With surging demand from AI and electrification, the grid urgently needs scalable, always-on solutions, and we believe enhanced geothermal energy is uniquely positioned to deliver,” said Jeff Johnson, General Partner at B Capital, which led the Series E round. Plus, as Google contracted for Fervo’s geothermal energy in Nevada, Fervo has signed agreements with utilities such as Southern California Edison and Shell Energy for the energy from Utah.
When construction began, Fervo expected the project to create 6,600 construction jobs and 160 full-time jobs, totaling $437 million in wages. The company also expects to contribute $1.1 billion to local businesses and supply chains. Plus, in 2024, Fervo partnered with Southern Utah University and the nonprofit Elemental Impact to launch an apprenticeship program to help oil and gas workers transition to the geothermal industry. As Nolan Davis, Mayor of Milford, Utah, explained, “Fervo’s Cape Station will be a tremendous asset to the Milford Valley, breathing life into the local economy and providing jobs to our hard-working residents.” This is particularly important for Beaver County, whose biggest employer, Smithfield Foods, ended contracts with 26 of its 28 Utah pork farms and eliminated 70% of jobs in the state at the end of 2023.
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The technology offers numerous other benefits, particularly for the environment. First, it is clean because the process produces no carbon emissions. Plus, afterward, the water can be injected underground again without any loss to evaporation. The horizontal drilling process also enables the company to drill multiple wells from one well pad, reducing surface land use. TIME recognized Fervo as the #1 company on its 2026 America’s Top GreenTech Companies list.
Last year, Fervo created the Geothermal Sustainable Development Pact. The open industry standard includes 37 commitments for the planning, building, and operation of geothermal projects, spanning categories such as community engagement, workforce development, land use, water conservation and well integrity, induced seismicity, and emissions. Latimer said, “The Geothermal Sustainable Development Pact was born out of a belief that the future of energy demands not just better technology, but better practices.”
Geothermal energy is limitless because it is derived from the Earth’s internal heat. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, at a depth of 5 kilometers (km), there is enough geothermal energy to meet domestic electricity demand, while at a depth of 7 km, the energy capacity could meet five times the country’s 2016 electricity demand. Fervo’s horizontal drilling methods enhance the total resource potential, as “horizontal drilling also facilitates greater access to geologies that were previously challenging to reach.”
The energy source is also reliable, as it does not depend on seasonal variability, meaning it can be “used reliably around the clock or to complement the fluctuations of other renewable energy resources,” the company explains. As a result, it contributes to an all-of-the-above strategy, as Bill Gates, whose Breakthrough Energy Catalyst invested in the project, wrote on his blog: “Geothermal is one of the most promising ways to deliver clean energy that’s reliable and affordable. Intermittent power sources like wind and solar will play a key role, but we also need sources of energy that work around the clock without contributing to climate change, like geothermal and nuclear power.”
Geothermal energy is also becoming increasingly cost-effective, as “an increase in drilling productivity and technological advancements will lower geothermal drilling costs through well-established learning curve cost reductions.”
Photo Courtesy Fervo Energy
