Fervo's Contracted Revenue Jumps to $11.9 Billion on 396MW Google Geothermal Deal

In its third-quarter results, the Nasdaq-listed company said it has 1,054 megawatts under binding contracts, against 658 megawatts at the end of June. The 396-megawatt increase matches a 15-year, take-or-pay agreement with Google covering eight of Fervo's GeoBlock units at Cape Station in Beaver County, Utah, which the company described as the largest enhanced geothermal power purchase agreement signed to date.

The numbers matter beyond Fervo. Technology companies building AI data centres are competing for firm, round-the-clock electricity, and new gas turbines and nuclear plants take years to arrive. Fervo is pitching geothermal as power that can be built in blocks sized to a data centre hall and switched on as each is finished.

The Google Contract

Under the agreement, which Fervo calls Cape Google 400, first power is expected in mid-2028 and full capacity by the end of that year. The plant will be connected to the grid, which means Google can draw the power or sell it on if it is not ready to use it. Tim Latimer, Fervo's co-founder and chief executive, told analysts that neither side has to wait for the other, according to TechCrunch's account of the call. "We build Cape Station on our schedule. Google can develop a potential data center on their schedule," he said.

Google also has an option to add about 600 megawatts, which would take the total to nearly one gigawatt, the company said. Any expansion would be delivered behind the meter, direct to a load such as a possible regional data centre in Beaver County, under Utah's SB132 framework. It would be the first project under a geothermal framework agreement the two companies signed in March 2026, which covers up to 3 gigawatts through 2033.

Fervo said drilling for the Google units is about 18% complete and that the first set of 50-megawatt turbines has passed factory acceptance testing.

Plants Coming Online

The first 33-megawatt GeoBlock at Cape Station was declared in commercial operation on September 30, ahead of its contractual date, the company said. A second unit has been synchronised with the grid and is delivering test energy, and a third is mechanically complete and in cold commissioning. Fervo expects both to reach commercial operation by January 1, 2027, completing the roughly 100-megawatt first phase. A new study by DeGolyer and MacNaughton put the Cape Station resource at about 8.4 gigawatts, nearly double an earlier estimate of 4.3 gigawatts.

Cost is the test investors are watching. Fervo expects the first phase to cost about $7,000 per kilowatt, is targeting $5,500 per kilowatt for the Google project and has set a long-term goal of $3,000 per kilowatt. At that level, it says, geothermal could compete with gas-fired generation.

Cash, Losses and Spending

Revenue was $116,000 for the quarter, before the first full quarter of sales from Cape Station. The operating loss widened to $43.7 million as general and administrative costs rose to $39.4 million from $27.4 million. Net income came in at $11.7 million, helped by a $29.9 million tax benefit and an $11.8 million non-cash gain on swaps. The release gave two figures for the loss attributable to common stockholders: $20.8 million in its highlights and $19.5 million in its financial tables.

Fervo ended September with about $1.9 billion in cash and $301.6 million of debt. Capital spending was $256.7 million in the quarter. The company cut its second-half capital expenditure forecast to $700 million to $750 million from $850 million to $900 million, saying construction efficiencies had pushed some Google project spending later without changing completion dates or total investment. It expects fourth-quarter capital spending of $450 million to $500 million and holds an investor open house at Cape Station on November 19.