Galvanize Climate Solutions, John Arnold, Liberty Mutual Investments, Marunouchi Innovation Partners, Mercuria, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also joined the round alongside existing investors Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund, Congruent Ventures, DCVC, Elemental Excelerator, Helmerich & Payne, and Impact Science Ventures.

“Demand for around-the-clock clean energy has never been higher, and next-generation geothermal is uniquely positioned to meet this demand,” said Tim Latimer, Fervo CEO and Co-Founder. “Our technology is fully derisked, our pricing is already competitive, and our resource pipeline is vast. This investment enables Fervo to continue to position geothermal at the heart of 24/7 carbon-free energy production.”

Since its last fundraise, Fervo has brought its first commercial project online, and also began drilling at Cape Station, a 400 MW project in Beaver County, Utah. Fervo says early drilling results show reduced drilling times and lower costs that exceed Department of Energy expectations for EGS.

“Fervo’s approach to geothermal development leverages leading-edge subsurface, drilling, and completions expertise and techniques Devon has been honing for decades,” said David Harris, Chief Corporate Development Officer and Executive Vice President at Devon. “We look forward to deepening our partnership with Fervo to capture the full value of Fervo’s first-mover advantage in geothermal and the adjacencies to Devon’s core business.”

The fundraise will support Fervo’s continued operations at Cape Station, which is expected to begin delivering electricity to the grid in 2026.

“The energy trilemma is one of the defining global challenges of our time; how can we generate power that is affordable, reliable, and clean,” said John Arnold, Founder of Centaurus Capital and Co-Chair of Arnold Ventures. “Fervo has transformed geothermal into a scalable carbon-free resource ready to meet the moment.”

Originally published by Renewable Energy World.

Fervo began its drilling campaign at Cape Station, its 400 MW project in southwest Utah, in June 2023 and over the last six months has drilled one vertical and six horizontal wells there, while it says it reduced drilling times from well to well as learnings accelerated.

Fervo says it has reduced drilling times and costs in horizontal, high-temperature, deep granite drilling. Though Cape wells are hotter and over 2,100 feet deeper than Project Red wells, Fervo says it drilled its fastest Cape well in just 21 days, a 70% reduction in drilling time from Fervo’s first horizontal well drilled at Project Red in 2022. Fervo says the increase in efficiency has resulted in cost reductions, with drilling costs across the first four horizontal wells at Cape falling from $9.4 million to $4.8 million per well.

Fervo Energy co-founder and CEO Tim Latimer joined the Texas Power Podcast with Doug Lewin to discuss a hoped-for resurgence in the geothermal energy industry. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

“Since its inception, Fervo has looked to bring a manufacturing mentality to enhanced geothermal development, building a highly repeatable drilling process that allows for continuous improvement and, as a result, lower costs,” said Tim Latimer, Fervo Energy CEO and Co-Founder. “In just six months, we have proven that our technology solutions have led to a dramatic acceleration in forecasted drilling performance.”

MORE: “The answer is below our feet”: Speakers tout geothermal in closing Enlit Europe session

Fervo says it achieved its results by increasing both the rate of penetration (ROP) and the life of drill bits. On the fourth horizontal well drilled at Cape, Fervo sustained an average ROP of 70 feet/hour, which it says already outpaced NREL’s 2035 projections for moderate technology improvement.

Fervo used polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) drill bits typically deployed in shale basins to cut through hard, abrasive granite, while mud coolers counteracted high subsurface temperatures that have historically derailed geothermal exploration.

Fervo says its drilling performance to date fits an expected learning rate of 35% for drilling time improvement, predicting more advances in performance and cost.

In 2023, Fervo announced the breakthrough result of its commercial pilot project, Project Red. Using drilling technology honed in the oil and gas industry, Fervo performed a successful 30-day well test, which Fervo says confirms the commercial viability of its drilling technology. The 30-day well test, a standard for geothermal, achieved a flowrate of 63 liters per second at high temperature that enables 3.5 MW of electric production, which Fervo says sets new records for both flow and power output from an enhanced geothermal system.

Terms of the funding deal were not disclosed.

In a DAC facility, fans move air over materials that capture carbon dioxide. The captured carbon dioxide is heated, concentrated, and then, in many instances, pumped underground. To operate economically and sustainably, DAC requires a reliable source of carbon-free electricity and heat. Fervo said its designs for a combined geothermal and direct air capture facility can provide an “innovative solution” that will “lower the cost of carbon removal.”

Fervo said it has adapted horizontal drilling techniques and distributed fiber optic sensing to its application. The funding from CZI is expected to help Fervo leverage geothermal resources to provide carbon-free power and heat to DAC systems and explore the potential for local subsurface carbon sequestration.

The announcement follows news that the Energy Department’s National Energy Technology Laboratory is establishing a $25 million Direct Air Capture Center at the lab’s Pittsburgh campus.

The facility aims to jumpstart development of DAC technologies that can lower the quantities of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

DAC is an emerging technology that processes air from the atmosphere rather than a power plant or factory flue gas to capture CO2 emitted from multiple sources.