Energy · Profile from Energy Research Companion
Fervo Energy
The Houston start-up that took the shale industry's two signature techniques — horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing — and pointed them at hot, dry rock to make "enhanced geothermal" power that runs around the clock. Founded in 2017 by a former shale drilling engineer, Tim Latimer, and a Stanford reservoir modeller, Jack Norbeck, Fervo signed a development agreement with Google in 2021, ran a 30-day test at its Project Red pilot in Nevada in July 2023 (~3.5 MW from a horizontal well pair, company), and built Cape Station in Beaver County, Utah, the first utility-scale enhanced geothermal system (EGS). It listed on Nasdaq (FRVO) on 13 May 2026, raising ~$1.89bn at $27 a share (~$7.7bn market value at the offer price, Bloomberg), the largest clean-energy IPO in years. Cape Station's first 33 MW (net) GeoBlock synchronised to the grid on 24 Sep 2026 and reached commercial operation around 30 Sep–1 Oct 2026 (company; reports differ by a day); two more Phase I blocks are due by 1 Jan 2027 and a ~400 MW Phase II in 2028. Its contract book — Southern California Edison (320 MW), a 396 MW Google PPA signed in August 2026, and others — is the reason a company with ~$0.14m of 2025 revenue was valued in the billions.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2017 (Tim Latimer and Jack Norbeck; reported origins in a Stanford/Berkeley Lab clean-energy fellowship, verify)
- Headquarters
- Houston, Texas
- Ownership / structure
- Public since 13 May 2026, Nasdaq: FRVO; dual-class shares — co-founders retain control through super-voting Class B shares (reported); pre-IPO investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, DCVC, Capricorn Investment Group, Devon Energy, B Capital, Mercuria, Liberty Mutual and others (reported, verify list)
- Leadership (2026)
- Tim Latimer (co-founder, CEO); Jack Norbeck (co-founder, CTO); CFO and board (verify names)
- Assets
- Cape Station (Beaver County, Utah): Phase I ~100 MW net in three 33 MW GeoBlocks (first block in commercial operation Oct 2026), Phase II ~400 MW under construction (target 2028); federal (BLM) approval for expansion of the area up to ~2 GW (2024, reported, verify); Project Red pilot (Humboldt County, Nevada, ~3.5 MW test, on the grid since late 2023); leases in Nevada, Utah, California and elsewhere (verify)
- Scale
- FY2025 revenue ~$0.14m; net loss ~$58–71m (sources conflict: Axios ~$57.8m; filing summaries ~$70.5m; verify against S-1); contracted revenue backlog ~$7.2bn (company claim at IPO)
- Contract book
- Southern California Edison 320 MW, 15 years (Jun 2024); Google 396 MW, 15 years, four 99 MW tranches from Q3 2028, option for ~600 MW more (signed 26 Aug 2026, announced 1 Sep 2026); Google–NV Energy Clean Transition Tariff 115 MW in Nevada (Jun 2024); Shell Energy and community-choice aggregators (2023–24, verify MW)
- Signature moves (incl. failures and disputes)
- Founding on the oilfield thesis (2017); Google agreement (2021); Project Red results (2023); Cape Station launch (2023); SCE PPAs (2024); drilling-cost-curve claims and the well-test dispute (2024–26); funding rounds and capital stack (2022–25); the IPO (May 2026); Cape Station first power (Sep 2026)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2017
Founding and the Oilfield Thesis
Founding / technology bet
2021
Google Agreement
Offtake / strategic partnership
2023
Cape Station Utah
Project launch and construction
2023
Project Red Results
Technology proof (pilot test) — results later disputed
2024
Drilling Cost Curve Claims
Technology / cost claims (public disclosure of drilling metrics and well-test results)
2024
SCE PPAs
Offtake contracts
2025
Funding Rounds and the Capital Stack
Financing (venture, strategic, project-level preferred equity and debt)
2026
IPO and Cape Station First Power
IPO and commissioning