Google has invested in a $462 million funding round for Fervo Energy, the leading enhanced geothermal developer’s latest effort to scale 24/7 carbon-free power for an electricity grid stressed by AI and data center growth. The capital will help finish the first large-scale plant for Fervo and germinate even more projects, bolstering geothermal’s case as a reliable source of clean energy available 24/7.
Why Google Is Betting on Geothermal for 24/7 Clean Power
Google has been seeking to match its electricity consumption on an hourly basis to generation, a model that requires firm, dispatchable resources as well as intermittent ones. This makes EGS, or enhanced geothermal systems, a predictable resource with high capacity factors and small land footprints that align it as a potential complement to wind, solar and storage resources. Already, Fervo has a power supply agreement to provide power for Google’s data centers, as a result of a breakthrough project that showed 24/7 carbon-free energy on an actual grid supplying Google.
Inside the $462M Raise and the Strategic Investor Lineup
The round was led by B Capital, with participation from an extensive group of climate, infrastructure, and strategic investors including, among others:
- AllianceBernstein
- Breakthrough Energy Ventures
- CalSTRS
- Capricorn Investment Group
- CPP Investments
- Devon Energy
- Liberty Mutual Investments
- Mercuria
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
- Mitsui & Co.
- Sabanci Climate Ventures
The investor mishmash reflects a rising belief that geothermal can scale from niche to significant grid resource.
The money will be used to close its flagship Cape Station in Utah and get several follow-on plants underway, according to Fervo CEO Tim Latimer. Rock, about 8,500 feet below ground and at a temperature of around 450°F, would be tapped at temperatures hot enough to produce reliable baseload electricity at Cape Station. Mechanical completion is considered imminent, with commercial operation to follow when interconnection and commissioning milestones are achieved.
The raise is in addition to financing of loans and project-level preferred equity that was also agreed for Cape Station, reflecting the hybrid capital stacks now typical of next-gen clean energy. As projects sign large, long-term offtake agreements with blue-chip customers, equity and debt financiers have become more willing to underwrite the resource and execution risk.
The Breakthrough: Innovation in Drilling
EGS takes its cues from oil and gas — specifically directional drilling, reservoir stimulation, and fiber-optic monitoring — but applies them to hot dry rock. Fervo, it says in documents, has reduced the drilling time for wells from about a month to days in the mid-teens — a transformational shift since drilling time accounts for about half of costs per well. Quicker drilling shrinks the project schedule, minimizes capital at risk, and shortens the time to get cash flow.
Cross-sector sharing is apparent in technology and among investors: Devon Energy and other strategics from energy are investing in part because they think subsurface expertise can power scalable, low-carbon power. Fervo’s emphasis on drilling pace and in-well problem-solving is not mere cost engineering — it’s a stand-in for mastery of resource, with the benefit of ever-improving output and reliability.
The Rise of the Data Center and its Power Demand Impact
Data centers are now the fastest-growing source of new power demand in several U.S. markets. According to Rhodium Group, upgraded geothermal can provide nearly two of every three cents of incremental data center load over the next decade at or below prevailing power prices, thanks both to its operational reliability and the flexibility to site close enough to transmission.
Geothermal accounts for only a sliver of U.S. electricity today, but the resource is infinite. Work from the Department of Energy’s GeoVision indicates that tens of gigawatts are possible if EGS matures to commercial scale. The levelized cost target from DOE’s Enhanced Geothermal Shot is around $45 a megawatt-hour — attractive enough to place firm geothermal firmly in the competitive range for utility procurement.
Permitting, Geography And The Way Forward
Fervo is focusing initially on the U.S. West, because heat is near to the surface and geologic data are abundant there. And as the company standardizes drilling times and field designs, it will move to deeper rock provinces and international markets, the company says. Subsurface heterogeneity, consent lead times, and access to transmission lines continue to be the largest swing factors, but diverse geology across the West is helping Fervo build a playbook before going overseas.
The investor list, long-term offtakes with buyers like Google, and a focus on executing on drilling productivity suggest the beginning of a new era for geothermal: bankable, repeatable, and aligned with an electrical grid increasingly in need of firm clean capacity. And if Fervo can scale Cape Station’s learning to many sites, enhanced geothermal could emerge from promising pilot to central pillar of 24/7 carbon-free power — the kind of resource heavy-compute industries increasingly need now.
