Houston's Fervo Energy Reports Its Geothermal Plant at First Power - and a Google Deal That Could Reach Nearly a Gigawatt

Houston's bet on a different kind of Texas energy reported its biggest quarter yet on Monday. Fervo Energy, the Houston-based geothermal company, said its Cape Station project in Utah reached first power in the third quarter: GeoBlock 1, at 33 megawatts, was declared in commercial operation on September 30 - ahead of its contractual date - and is delivering power in line with expectations under its purchase agreement. GeoBlock 2 has synced to the grid and is sending test energy, GeoBlock 3 is mechanically complete and in cold commissioning, and both are expected in commercial operation by January 1, completing a first phase of roughly 100 megawatts.

The headline deal came with the numbers. Fervo and Google signed what Fervo says is the largest enhanced geothermal power purchase agreement to date: 15 years, grid-connected, take-or-pay, for 396 megawatts, with first power expected in mid-2028 - plus an option for Google to expand its offtake by about 600 megawatts more, to nearly a gigawatt in total. Construction has advanced on the eight blocks behind that deal, and an updated independent study now supports about 8.4 gigawatts of capacity potential at Cape Station, nearly double the previous 4.3-gigawatt estimate. Across its portfolio, Fervo says it now holds 1,054 megawatts under binding agreements, representing about $11.9 billion in contracted revenue.

The financials are a builder's, not a producer's - yet. Fervo reported third-quarter net income of $11.7 million, helped by interest income and one-off items including a $29.9 million tax benefit, alongside a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $20.8 million, or seven cents a share, and an operating loss of $43.7 million. It spent $256.7 million on capital projects in the quarter, expects $450 million to $500 million more in the fourth, and ended September with $1.9 billion in cash against $301.6 million of debt. It was also selected for two potential Energy Department awards totaling about $20 million for appraisal wells in Idaho and Nevada.

Chief executive Tim Latimer framed the quarter, in the company's words, as the start of delivery: commercial operations underway, the remaining first-phase blocks on schedule, and geothermal's pitch - always-on, low-cost power - aimed squarely at the data-center demand reshaping Texas's own grid debates. Fervo hosts an investor open house at Cape Station on November 19 and took questions on a call Monday morning at 9 a.m. Central. For Houston, the story is the headquarters: the drilling technology is enhanced-geothermal, the plant is in Utah, and the company building it sits here.