Is Google that confident in Geothermal? Or that desperate for power?
Probably both.
What strikes me is the fast timeline – generating for the grid in ’26-’27 time frame.
I’ve been saying for years that Geothermal is the dark horse, and it might be breaking from the pack right now.
- Enhanced geothermal company Fervo Energy announced Tuesday that it has made a 396-MW power purchase agreement with Google, the largest-ever geothermal PPA, with Google planning to use that power as a “foundational building block” for a potential data center in Utah.
- “As part of the PPA, Fervo will offer Google an option to expand its offtake by approximately 600 MW, for a total of nearly 1 GW, by June 2030,” Fervo said. “Final data center plans remain subject to a variety of factors including engineering feasibility, state and local approvals, and commercial conditions.”
- In a Tuesday research note, financial services company William Blair said the PPA deal “increases contracted revenue across Fervo’s portfolio by about 65% and strengthens our belief that Fervo’s enhanced geothermal systems provide a critical solution to address our ‘baseload imperative’ thesis by delivering firm, dispatchable power to fuel AI data centers.”
Wall Street Journal reports that Fervo’s agreement to generate 400 megawatts would be their largest ever – enough to “power a midsize city”.
It is meant to power an as yet to be determined Data Centers somewhere in Utah.
It works as a “firm” supply of power, but as Jigar Shah might point out, there is still a need for all the stabilizing power tech between the power supply (whether grid or dedicated power plant) and the data center with its finicky, fast-swinging power needs.