Google has signed an agreement to purchase 396 megawatts of electricity from US company Fervo Energy. The energy will be produced at the Cape Station complex in Beaver County, Utah, with deliveries under the agreement set to begin in 2028. The agreement is the largest ever for an enhanced geothermal system.
The agreement provides for four 99-megawatt phases and a 15-year delivery term. Google also has the option to increase its purchases by an additional approximately 600 megawatts. If the option is exercised, the total contracted capacity could reach nearly 1 gigawatt by June 2030. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Energy for a Future Data Center
Fervo Energy says the contracted electricity is intended to serve as the foundation for a potential Google data center in Utah. Plans for the facility, however, still depend on technical feasibility, approvals from state and local authorities, and commercial terms.
The deal comes amid growing electricity consumption by data centers linked to artificial intelligence. Unlike solar and wind farms, which depend on the weather, geothermal systems can operate continuously. In 2024, natural gas supplied more than 40% of the electricity used by data centers in the US.
Cape Station Is Already Generating Electricity
Meanwhile, the Utah project has already passed its first major milestone. The first 33-megawatt unit at Cape Station reached commercial operation at the end of September 2026, while the first phase of the complex includes around 100 megawatts across three 33-megawatt units. The entire project is planned to have a capacity of 500 megawatts.
Google and Fervo Energy have been working together for five years. Their first joint project was Project Red in Nevada, which began generating electricity in 2023 and supplies power to the local grid, including Google's data centers. In 2024, the two companies also signed an agreement for 115 megawatts of geothermal energy in Nevada.
How the Technology Works
Enhanced geothermal systems, known as EGS, use deep wells and the injection of pressurized water to expand existing fractures or create permeability in hot rocks. The water is heated underground, returns to the surface, and is used to generate electricity.
“The goal of EGS is to create permeability where there was none before or where it was very limited. This makes it possible to develop geothermal projects in many more locations,” explains Roland Horne, director of the Geothermal Energy Program at Stanford University.The technology is still expensive. Geothermal energy accounts for just 0.4% of electricity generation from utility-scale power plants in the US, while high upfront costs remain a major obstacle to its wider use. Fervo's challenge is to expand Cape Station to its planned capacity and prove that enhanced geothermal energy can be deployed at commercial scale.
Sources: techcrunch.com, ksl.com, thinkgeoenergy.com