Google Signs 396MW Geothermal Deal With Fervo in Utah

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes · Last updated: 6 November 2026

Google has agreed to buy 396 megawatts of power from Fervo Energy's Cape Station, an enhanced geothermal project in Beaver County, Utah. The contract is split into four phases of 99 megawatts, runs for 15 years and starts delivering in 2028. Google also holds an option on roughly 600 megawatts more, which would lift the total close to 1 gigawatt by June 2030. Fervo Energy says the supply is meant to anchor a possible Google data center in Utah, a facility that still awaits approvals. The Google geothermal deal is a test of whether enhanced geothermal can be built at commercial scale.

Why Google Wants Round-the-Clock Power in Utah

Fervo Energy describes the contracted power as the base for a Google data center that may be built in Utah. That plan is conditional. It hinges on three things: whether the site is technically workable, whether state and local officials approve it, and whether the two companies settle commercial terms.

The appeal for Google is timing. Solar and wind output rises and falls with the weather, while a geothermal plant can run at any hour, which suits data centers whose load from artificial intelligence keeps climbing. Gas covered more than 40% of US data center electricity demand in 2024.

Cape Station Is Running, but at a Fraction of Its Plan

Cape Station passed its first milestone at the end of September 2026, when its first 33-megawatt unit entered commercial operation. Phase one is three such units, about 100 megawatts in all, and the full complex is planned at 500 megawatts.

That leaves a long climb. The 396 megawatts Google has committed to equals roughly 79% of the planned site, and the option would push contracted volume toward 1 gigawatt, about twice Cape Station's planned size. Where the extra power would come from has not been explained.

Fervo has delivered for Google before. Project Red in Nevada began generating in 2023 and supplies the local grid, including Google's data centers. The companies, partners for five years, signed a 115-megawatt Nevada agreement in 2024.

How Enhanced Geothermal Works and Why It Still Costs So Much

Enhanced geothermal systems, or EGS, drill deep wells into hot rock and pump in water under pressure to widen existing cracks or open new pathways. The water picks up heat underground, returns to the surface and drives generators.

Roland Horne, director of the Geothermal Energy Program at Stanford University, says the aim of EGS is to create permeability in rock that has little or none, which opens many more sites to geothermal development.

Cost is the brake. Geothermal supplies only 0.4% of electricity from US utility-scale power plants, and high upfront spending has held it back. Fervo now has to build Cape Station out to 500 megawatts and show the approach works commercially.

What could make or break the deal

The bottom line

The contract gives Fervo a large, long-dated buyer at a moment when its flagship plant has only one unit running. For Google, it secures firm, weather-independent supply for a Utah data center that is still only a proposal. The fixed terms are clear: 396 megawatts in four 99-megawatt blocks, 15 years, first deliveries in 2028, and an option toward nearly 1 gigawatt by June 2030. What remains open is the price, which has not been disclosed, and whether Cape Station can grow from 33 operating megawatts to its 500-megawatt plan.

What to watch

• Deliveries under the contract are scheduled to begin in 2028, the first test of whether Cape Station can supply its 99-megawatt phases on time.
• June 2030 is the point by which Google's option could lift its contracted capacity to nearly 1 gigawatt, if it chooses to exercise it.
• Watch for state and local decisions on the proposed Google data center in Utah; no date has been set.