“Fervo Energy, the leader in next-generation geothermal energy, today held its second annual Technology Day, announcing a suite of both technical and commercial breakthroughs. In the last year, Fervo drilled 15 wells at Cape Station, achieved record-breaking commercial flow rates at the site’s first well test, and secured a $100 million construction loan from X-Caliber Rural Capital to accelerate its operations…

The 30-day test, a standard for geothermal, achieved a maximum flow rate of 107 kg/s at high temperature, enabling over 10 MW of electric production, triple the per production well output of Fervo’s commercial pilot, Project Red.”

From Business Wire.

“Solar has been gaining popularity for years now, but in 2023 the clean energy source really took off: A staggering 428 gigawatts’ worth of solar was installed worldwide last year, up by 76 percent from what was deployed in 2022.”

From Canary Media.

“Meta, the company that owns Facebook, announced an agreement with a start-up called Sage Geosystems to develop up to 150 megawatts of an advanced type of geothermal energy that would help power the tech giant’s expanding array of data centers. That is roughly enough electricity to power 70,000 homes.

Sage will use fracking techniques similar to those that have helped extract vast amounts of oil and gas from shale rock. But rather than drill for fossil fuels, Sage plans to create fractures thousands of feet beneath the surface and pump water into them. The heat and pressure underground should heat the water to the point where it can be used to generate electricity in a turbine, all without the greenhouse gases that are causing global warming…

Google has partnered with Fervo Energy, a prominent geothermal start-up, to build a 5-megawatt pilot plant in Nevada that has already begun supplying power to the grid. The two companies recently reached a deal to supply much more geothermal power in the years ahead to Google’s data centers.”

From New York Times.

“The Swiss government wants to cancel a ban on building new nuclear plants that’s been in place since 2018.

Switzerland currently has four aging nuclear plants, and also relies heavily on renewable sources for its energy supply. At a meeting on Wednesday, the government announced it will propose the changes to current legislation by the end of the year, with parliament set to discuss them in 2025 before the issue is likely put to a referendum.”

From Bloomberg.