Heat from rock about 2.4 kilometers under Utah is now producing electricity at utility scale. Fervo Energy says the first 33-megawatt unit at Cape Station, in Beaver County, sent power to the grid on September 24.
Most geothermal plants depend on places where hot water already rises close to the surface, and there are few of them. Fervo's method, called enhanced geothermal, drills horizontal wells the way oil and gas companies do and fractures hot, dry rock between them. Water pumped down one well picks up heat and comes back up the other. That opens up far more of the map.
From one unit to gigawatts
According to The Register, the wells at Cape Station reach about 8,000 feet, and the water comes up at about 190 degrees Celsius. Fervo says the first unit should start commercial operation by October 1. Two more 33-megawatt units are due by January 1, bringing the first phase to about 100 megawatts. A second phase adds 400 megawatts and is due in 2028.
The company says the site could eventually host more than 4 gigawatts. That figure is a projection, not built capacity.
Who is buying
The plant runs day and night regardless of weather, which is what data centers want. Google signed a 396-megawatt power purchase agreement with Fervo on September 1. The Register notes that Meta and Google have also signed with other geothermal developers.
"First Power is proof the science works," said Jack Norbeck, Fervo's chief technology officer and co-founder.
