Google signs for 396 MW from Fervo’s Utah geothermal plant
Google has agreed to purchase 396 megawatts of electricity from Fervo Energy’s Cape Station geothermal power plant in Utah, securing power for a planned new data centre. The power purchase agreement was announced Tuesday, and Cape Station is expected to begin operating in 2028.
The agreement also gives Google an option to buy an additional 600 MW from Fervo through June 2030. That could take the companies’ arrangement close to one gigawatt if the option is exercised.
Firm clean power for data-centre demand
The deal arrives as Google and other hyperscale operators search across the US for additional electricity supply. Google has long bought wind, solar and battery power as part of its target to reach net-zero emissions by 2030.
That target became more difficult in April, when Google signed an agreement with data-centre developer Crusoe for 933 MW of natural-gas generation in Texas. The Cape Station contract could provide electricity for Google’s AI expansion while supporting its clean-energy objectives.
Enhanced geothermal systems seek deeper underground heat than conventional geothermal development. Fervo has developed an enhanced geothermal approach, and the US Department of Energy has said such technologies could enable up to 57 terawatts of electricity generation in the US.
Cape Station’s potential scale
Fervo is permitted to develop up to 2 GW of geothermal capacity at Cape Station. Sarah Jewett, Fervo’s senior vice president of strategy, said in May that a third-party engineer had concluded the site contains sufficient heat to generate twice that amount.
If developed to 4 GW, Cape Station would roughly double current geothermal generating capacity in the US, based on a recent Department of Energy report. The scale available at one site is therefore material to companies seeking large blocks of around-the-clock electricity.
Google and Fervo have worked together for more than five years, with Google purchasing some of the startup’s first electricity. Google also invested in Fervo’s last funding round before its public listing, a trajectory reflected in Fervo’s AI data-centre demand valuation as data-centre demand for AI lifted Fervo’s valuation above $10 billion.
What the agreement signals
Fervo shares rose about 30% after news of the Google agreement before some traders took profits the following day. The contract does not guarantee that Google will use its option for the extra 600 MW, and the plant is not expected online until 2028.
For businesses planning data-centre capacity, the agreement illustrates the importance of evaluating firm generation contracts alongside intermittent renewable purchases, especially where AI growth requires substantial and sustained electricity supply.