“Fervo is a buzzy geothermal-technology startup backed by Google and other high-powered tech investors that wants to turn a once-neglected source of energy into a powerhouse. The privately held firm, valued at some $1.4bn, will start producing electricity next year in the first phase of a 500-megawatt deal with the power division of Shell, an oil company, and with a Californian utility. That is the largest commercial contract agreed for geothermal electricity in the industry’s history.
It is the first shot in an incipient geothermal revolution. Today, less than 1% of global (and American) energy comes from geothermal. But researchers at Princeton University predict that technical innovations mean widely available geothermal power could, by 2050, produce nearly triple the current output of the country’s nuclear power plants (which supply roughly 20% of America’s electricity at present). By 2035, the International Energy Agency reckons cumulative investment in geothermal globally could reach $1trn, a big jump from the $1bn to $2bn invested in 2024.”
From The Economist.
