Fervo Energy
Canvas Category OEM : Electrical Equipment
Our mission is to leverage innovation in geoscience to accelerate the clean energy transition by providing cost-effective, reliable geothermal energy. We have pioneered and proven a new approach to next-generation geothermal, a 24/7 carbon-free energy resource crucial to solving climate change. Power buyers are seeking to bolster reliability, reduce costs, and meet clean energy mandates, corporations are voluntarily establishing 24/7 carbon-free electricity targets, and the federal government is mandating that federal facilities be powered by carbon free power by 2030. Geothermal is the ideal energy source to meet that demand as well as complement variable generation sources such as solar and wind.
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Fervo Energy Secures Additional $255 Million Funding to Meet Unprecedented Energy Demand
Fervo Energy, the leader in next-generation geothermal development, announced that it has secured $255 million in new funding and capital availability as it continues to build the worldās largest enhanced geothermal systems (āEGSā) power development. The announced funding comprises both opportunistic corporate equity and new debt financing.
Capricornās Technology Impact Fund II led the $135 million corporate equity round. Fervo is excited to welcome new investment and continued support from a suite of high-caliber investors, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, CalSTRS, Congruent Ventures, CPP Investments, DCVC, Devon Energy, Galvanize Climate Solutions, Liberty Mutual Investments, Mercuria, and Sabanci Climate Ventures.
In addition to corporate equity, Fervo secured a $120 million letter of credit and term loan facility from Mercuria, one of the worldās largest independent energy and commodity groups. The facility will provide additional liquidity for Fervo to accelerate the deployment of EGS projects across the U.S. as it seeks to meet skyrocketing demand for clean, firm power.
Fervo Energy Announces 320 MW Power Purchase Agreements with Southern California Edison
Fervo Energy, the leader in next-generation geothermal energy, announced the execution of two power purchase agreements (PPAs) totaling 320 MW with Southern California Edison (SCE), one of the nationās largest utilities. The 15-year agreements for 24/7 carbon-free geothermal energy will provide reliable, clean, and affordable power for the equivalent of 350,000 homes across Southern California and support SCEās vision to help California transition to a cleaner energy future.
SCE will purchase the power from Fervo Energyās 400 MW Cape Station project currently under construction in southwest Utah. The first 70 MW phase of the project is expected to be operational by 2026 and the second phase will be operational by 2028.
š“ó µó ³ó “ó øó æ Fervo Energy Raises $244 Million to Accelerate Deployment of Next-Generation Geothermal
Fervo Energy, the leader in next-generation geothermal development, announced that it has raised $244 million in new funding led by Devon Energy, a pioneer in shale oil and gas. This financing will unlock Fervoās next phase of growth, deploying proven technology adapted from the oil and gas industry at scale to deliver commercially viable 24/7 carbon-free energy. Galvanize Climate Solutions, John Arnold, Liberty Mutual Investments, Marunouchi Innovation Partners, Mercuria, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also joined the round alongside existing investors Capricornās Technology Impact Fund, Congruent Ventures, DCVC, Elemental Excelerator, Helmerich & Payne, and Impact Science Ventures.
Since its last fundraise, Fervo has successfully brought its first commercial project online, establishing Fervoās system as the most productive enhanced geothermal system (EGS) in history. Fervo has also begun drilling at Cape Station, a 400 MW project in Beaver County, Utah. Early drilling results show reduced drilling times and lower costs that significantly exceed Department of Energy expectations for EGS. The fundraise will support Fervoās continued operations at Cape Station, which will begin delivering clean electricity to the grid in 2026.
The role of flexible geothermal power in decarbonized electricity systems
Enhanced geothermal systems (EGSs) are an emerging energy technology with the potential to greatly expand the viable resource base for geothermal power generation. Although EGSs have traditionally been envisioned as ābaseloadā resources, flexible operation of EGS wellfields could allow these plants to provide load-following generation and long-duration energy storage. In this work we evaluate the impact of operational flexibility on the long-run system value and deployment potential of EGS power in the western United States. We find that load-following generation and in-reservoir energy storage enhance the role of EGS power in least-cost decarbonized electricity systems, substantially increasing optimal geothermal penetration and reducing bulk electricity supply costs compared to systems with inflexible EGSs or no EGSs. Flexible geothermal plants preferentially displace the most expensive competing resources by shifting their generation on diurnal and seasonal timescales, with round-trip energy storage efficiencies of 59ā93%. Benefits of EGS flexibility are robust across a range of electricity market and geothermal technology development scenarios.
Fervo heralds a revolution in geothermal power technology
Fervoās ānext-generation geothermalā technology has proven itself in testing, becoming the most productive enhanced geothermal plant in history. The company hopes its approach will radically expand access to clean energy, like shale did for oil.
The fact that some 40% of all geothermal wells donāt end up working out, has put the brakes on hot rocks as a power source. According to IRENA, geothermal contributes about half of one percent of global renewable energy, and a vanishingly tiny slice of overall global energy production.
Fervoās solution is a bit more down-to-Earth, as it were, and draws on much more established, high-volume machinery and techniques from oil and gas production. Essentially, Fervo aims to do for geothermal what shale oil and fracking did for hydrocarbons, radically improving access to resources and unlocking energy where previously it was too expensive to get to.
Fervoās first full-scale commercial pilot, Project Red in Nevada, is the first time a geothermal project has ever drilled a horizontal pair of bores, extending some 3,250 ft (990 m) laterally. It has now completed a 30-day well test, producing a flow rate of 63 liters per second, at temperatures up to 191 Ā°C (376 Ā°F). It produces 3.4 megawatts of power, or about enough to power 500 US homes.
Commercial-Scale Demonstration of a First-of-a-Kind Enhanced Geothermal System
Fervo Energy has completed construction of a commercial enhanced geothermal system (EGS) project and has qualified full functionality of the system through production testing at commercially relevant operating conditions. The project site is located in a nearfield setting adjacent to an operating geothermal power station in north-central Nevada and is designed to deliver an uplift in high-temperature geothermal flow rates to increase the power capacity at the facility.
The project involved drilling a first-of-a-kind EGS horizontal doublet well system, consisting of an injection and production well pair within a high-temperature, hard rock geothermal formation. The lithology of the target reservoir is characterized as a mixed metasedimentary and igneous formation, comprised of phyllite, quartzite, diorite, and granodiorite, representative of the geology across the most prospective geothermal areas throughout the western US. The lateral sections of the wells were drilled with 9 7/8ā hole size, completed with 7ā casing, extended approximately 3,250 ft horizontally, and reached a maximum measured temperature of 376 $^\circ$F. A modern multistage, plug-and-perforate stimulation treatment design with proppant was used to enhance the permeability of both horizontal wells. A 37-day crossflow production test was performed in April-May 2023, confirming that the EGS wells are connected hydraulically by a highly conductive fracture network. During production testing, the system achieved flow rates of up to 63 L/s, production temperatures of up to 336 $^\circ$F and a peak power production of 3.5 MW electric power equivalent. Flow profile wireline logs were performed on the horizontal injection well during the crossflow test, validating that the stimulation treatment design resulted in flow allocation along the entire lateral. Production temperature increased continuously throughout the test, indicating that no significant thermal short-circuit pathways were created during stimulation operations.
Based on a review of historic EGS projects, Fervoās horizontal doublet well design is most productive EGS system to-date in terms of flow rate and electric power equivalent. In successfully completing this project, we have demonstrated that no major technical barriers exist to deploying horizontal EGS systems in similar metasedimentary or igneous formations up to temperatures of approximately 400 $^\circ$F. Numerical reservoir simulation models calibrated with the field data from this project demonstrate a clear innovation pathway to increasing the power capacity up to 8 MW of electric power per production well, meeting or exceeding the performance criteria outlined in Advanced Scenario the National Renewable Energy Laboratoryās 2023 Annual Technology Bulletin for geothermal energy.
Fervo Energy Raises $138 Million for 24/7 Carbon-Free Next-Generation Geothermal Energy
Fervo Energy, the leader in next-generation geothermal power, announced that it had raised $138 million in new funding led by DCVC to build, own, and operate 24/7 carbon-free power plants. Other new investors included Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), Liberty Energy, Macquarie, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, Impact Science Ventures, and Prelude Ventures. The round also saw strong participation from existing investors such as Capricornās Technology Impact Fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Congruent Ventures, 3X5 Partners, Helmerich & Payne, and Elemental Excelerator.
Fervo has adapted innovations pioneered by the oil and gas industry, such as horizontal drilling and distributed fiber optic sensing, to make reservoirs of hot rock that exist beneath the earthās surface into practical, economically viable, clean sources of energy. The new funding helps Fervo complete power plants in both Nevada and Utah and evaluate new projects in California, Idaho, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, and internationally.
Cyclotron Road Alumni Team Awarded $28 Million
In 2015, Fervo Co-Founder Tim Latimer left his career as a Texas drilling engineer in the oil and gas industry. He moved to California, studied at Stanford, and met Jack Norbeck ā together they founded Fervo Energy with the goal of advancing technology and innovations in geothermal energy. In 2018, they came to Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (Berkeley Lab) as fellows in the Cyclotron Road division Cyclotron Road hosts a program in partnership with the nonprofit Activate that supports leading entrepreneurial scientists as they advance technology projects with the potential for global impact.
At Cyclotron Road, Latimer and Norbeck were fellows for two years, learning skills that are needed in the high-tech entrepreneurial world and collaborating with Berkeley Labās scientists to increase the productivity and lower the cost of geothermal power generation. They worked with lab scientists to advance technology for high-temp, high-pressure materials that can be used in the extreme environments of geothermal development. They also worked to find more sophisticated fiber-optic sensing technology to make measurements in the subsurface, thousands of feet below the earth. Fervo has 15 employees with offices in Houston and Berkeley.
With $28 million in new funding led by Capricorn Investment Group, Latimer says that Fervo is set to expand to the next level.
With new geothermal project, itās full steam ahead for 24/7 carbon-free energy
When Google announced our plan to go beyond purchasing renewable power for 100% of our energy usage and operate on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030, we noted that achieving this goal will require new transaction structures, advancements in clean energy policy, and innovative new technologies. Weāre pleased to announce that one of these new technologiesāa first-of-its-kind, next-generation geothermal projectāwill soon begin adding carbon-free energy to the electric grid that serves our data centers and infrastructure throughout Nevada, including our Cloud region in Las Vegas.
Google and clean-energy startup Fervo have just signed the worldās first corporate agreement to develop a next-generation geothermal power project, which will provide an āalways-onā carbon-free resource that can reduce our hourly reliance on fossil fuels. In 2022, Fervo will begin adding āfirmā geothermal energy to the stateās electric grid system, where Googleās commitments already include one of the worldās largest corporate solar-plus-storage power purchase agreements.
Importantly, this collaboration also sets the stage for next-generation geothermal to play a role as a firm and flexible carbon-free energy source that can increasingly replace carbon-emitting fossil fuelsāespecially when aided by policies that expand and improve electricity markets; incentivize deployment of innovative technologies; and increase investments in clean energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D).