World's largest geothermal power purchase agreement, world record in Houston, Texas

July 15, 2024

HOUSTON, Texas, United States--Fervo Energy has signed a 15-year agreement with Southern California Edison to provide 320 MW of power to the utility, which will power about 350,000 homes; the contract sets the world record for being the World's largest geothermal power purchase agreement, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

"It's only been one year since Fervo Energy unveiled a novel concept in geothermal energy harvesting at its Project Red pilot plant in Nevada. Instead of drilling vertical bores that deliver water into the hot rocks lying beneath the Earth's surface, it used techniques from the oil and gas industry to break up rocks, drive water through them horizontally, and collect the resultant steam to drive turbines at the surface," the New Atlas says.

"The company said that its new method was set to change the geothermal landscape because it could work in many locales – not just those where hot rocks are close to the surface like in Iceland and New Zealand. And a new contract proves that it was right.

"In what the company says is the world's largest geothermal power purchase agreement, Fervo has signed a 15-year agreement with Southern California Edison to provide 320 MW of power to the utility, which will power about 350,000 homes. The power will be provided by Fervo's Cape Station project that is currently being built in southwest Utah, with the first 70 MWs coming online in 2026 and the balance clicking on in 2028. This brings the current power contract total to 373 MW for the 400-MW-capacity plant in Beaver County."

"The contract was helped along by a mandate issued in 2021 by the California Public Utilities Commission to secure 1,000 MW of "non-weather-dependent, non-battery, zero-emission energy to increase the reliability of the state's electric grid," says a Fervo statement," the Fervo Energy says in a press release.

"Indeed, unlike wind and solar which can be dramatically affected by the environment, geothermal is a much more stable energy source as the heat it draws upon is always accessible, just beneath the Earth's surface.

“Enhanced geothermal systems complement our abundant wind and solar resources by providing critical base load when those sources are limited," said California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild. "This is key to ensuring reliability as we continue to transition away from fossil fuels.”

"The new contract is the latest in a string of successes for Fervo that began when the Project Red plant, funded by Google, began supplying power to the tech giant's data centers in Nevada late last year. The company also announced in February that it was able to speed up its processes, yielding drilling times that were 70% faster and 50% cheaper than they were in 2022.

"“Geothermal stands as the dependable and adaptable solution essential for California’s journey towards a fully decarbonized grid,” said Fervo's Dawn Owens.

“As electrification increases and climate change burdens already fragile infrastructure, geothermal will only play a bigger role in US power markets."

"Fervo Energy provides 24/7 carbon-free energy through the development of next-generation geothermal power. Fervo’s mission is to leverage innovation in geoscience to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

"Geothermal has a major role to play in the future electric grid, and Fervo’s key advancements in drilling and subsurface analytics bring a full suite of modern technology to make geothermal cost competitive and globally scalable."

"Southern California Edison (SCE), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electric utility company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of approximately 50,000 square miles.

"SCE still owns all of its electrical transmission facilities and equipment, but the deregulation of California's electricity market in the late 1990s forced the company to sell many of its power plants, though some were probably sold by choice.

"The origins of the company lie with the grand scheme of business magnate Henry E. Huntington and hydraulic engineer John S. Eastwood, developed around 1908, for a vast complex of reservoirs to be constructed in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California." (Wikipedia)