Fervo’s $11.9B in orders puts geothermal power tech in focus at TechCrunch

Contracted revenue rises

Fervo said in its third-quarter earnings report, released Monday, that contracted revenue reached $11.9 billion. That was an increase from $7.2 billion in the prior quarter.

Cape Station projects

Fervo is developing a 396-megawatt power plant for Google, with completion targeted by the end of 2028. Both that project and the first plant are at Cape Station in Utah, which the company says could generate 8.4 gigawatts; experts previously told Fervo the site could produce about 4 gigawatts.

Co-founder and CEO Tim Latimer said on Monday’s earnings call that the Google project, now called Cape Google 400, will connect to the grid. Under the arrangement, Google can draw power and sell it to other customers if it is not ready to use it.

Building capacity in stages

Fervo says its newer wells are deeper and hotter, with each capable of producing 15 megawatts of gross power. The wells are grouped into units called GeoBlocks. The first completed GeoBlock generated 33 megawatts, while more recent ones reached 50 megawatts. Fervo says the units are sized for a typical data center hall, allowing hyperscalers to bring them online as they are completed.

The phased approach can let power generation grow alongside customer demand. The article contrasts that feature with large nuclear and natural gas plants.

Costs and financial position

Fervo ended the quarter with an operating loss of $43.7 million, cash and cash equivalents of $1.9 billion, and long-term debt of $301.6 million. The company is still in an early stage, and its prospects depend partly on reducing plant costs.

Fervo said the first phase of Cape Station cost $7,000 per kilowatt of capacity, compared with $5,500 per kilowatt for the Google project. With subsidies, the latter is about equivalent to a new natural gas plant using fuel priced at $6 per million BTUs, though that remains about twice today’s natural gas cost.

Fervo’s long-term target is $3,000 per kilowatt. The article says achieving that level could let the company undercut natural gas power at current prices, but describes the target as ambitious.