Project milestone for next-gen geothermal technology

US geothermal technology firm Fervo Energy has completed the well test at its full-scale commercial pilot known as Project Red.

The project, executed in northern Nevada, US, aimed to confirm the commercial viability of Fervo’s drilling technology.

The project saw Fervo drill a horizontal well pair, achieving lateral lengths of 3,250 feet, reaching a temperature of 191°C, and proving controlled flow through rigorous tracer testing.

The 30-day well test achieved a flow rate of 63 litres per second at high temperature that enables 3.5MW of electric production. According to Fervo, this set new records for both flow and power output from an enhanced geothermal system.

The company also implemented an induced seismicity mitigation protocol to ensure the project was completed without incident.

The data generated from this pilot will enable Fervo to advance project deployment. The next project is planned to achieve more than double the power output of the pilot.

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“By applying drilling technology from the oil and gas industry, we have proven that we can produce 24/7 carbon-free energy resources in new geographies across the world,” said Tim Latimer, Fervo Energy CEO and co-founder.

Geothermal energy in the US

According to the US Department of Energy's Enhanced Geothermal Earthshot, geothermal energy could supply over 20% of US power needs, complementing other renewable sources such as wind and solar and potentially playing a critical role in meeting the country's decarbonisation goals.

Jesse Jenkins, assistant professor and leader of the Zero-carbon Energy systems Research and Optimization (ZERO) lab at Princeton University, said: “Power systems modelling confirms that geothermal can be a critical player in a fully decarbonized grid. Fervo’s successful commercial pilot takes next-generation geothermal technology from the realm of models into the real world and starts us on a path to unlock geothermal’s full potential.”

In 2021, Fervo signed a corporate agreement with Google to power Google’s Cloud region in Las Vegas with a carbon-free resource that will reduce the company’s hourly reliance on fossil fuels.

Michael Terrell, senior director for Energy and Climate at Google, commented: “We partnered with Fervo in 2021 because we see significant potential for their geothermal technology to unlock a critical source of 24/7 carbon-free energy at scale, and we are thrilled to see Fervo reach this important technical milestone.”

Also, Fervo recently broke ground on its first greenfield development in southwest Utah. The company will plug revenue and learnings from this project into other projects in new geographies.