UTAH — Fervo Energy’s first commercial geothermal plant, Cape Station in Utah, is set to begin generating power in October 2024. The initial unit will be followed by two additional units expected to come online by January 2027.

Cape Station is projected to have a total capacity of about 500 megawatts. The plant is expected to cost approximately $7 per kilowatt to build—more than twice the expense of constructing a new natural-gas plant in the U.S., but less than the cost of new nuclear power facilities.

Fervo Energy uses fracking techniques to create the subsurface conditions necessary for enhanced geothermal energy production. The company was founded in 2017 and raised about $1.5 billion from investors before going public in mid-May 2024. It now has a market capitalization of roughly $12.4 billion.

The company has already secured over 600 megawatts’ worth of binding power purchase agreements. It also holds leases on land that could collectively support more than 40 gigawatts of electricity generation, far exceeding the current U.S. geothermal fleet’s total capacity of 4 gigawatts as of 2024.

Geothermal energy has maintained consistent federal support, benefiting from ongoing tax credits and grant funding. Fervo Energy operates in an industry that has retained favor with the federal government. During the Trump administration, wind power saw reduced support and slowed project approvals.

Google has been a longtime investor in Fervo Energy and helped pioneer a “clean transition tariff” with the company. Electricity demand in the U.S. was relatively flat for about a decade before rising due to increased use of artificial intelligence, boosting interest in new baseload power sources like geothermal.