Bill Gates-Backed Fervo Energy Joins Firms Profiting From Data Center Buildout

Don’t call it niche clean-energy tech. Geothermal has made a grand entrance to the data center stack. 

On Tuesday, Fervo Energy announced a deal to sell nearly 400 megawatts of power to Google for a potential data center in Utah. Backed by Bill Gates through his Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, Fervo uses oil and gas fracking methods to develop geothermal energy, which is essentially heat that comes from deep within the earth. The company plans to start providing the energy to Google from its Cape Station project in Utah in 2028. 

Data Center Darlings  

As recent years have shown, AI data center buildouts can do wonders for unexpected companies. Just ask Generac, the company you probably associate with making the generator in your backyard that’s now planning a massive factory expansion to create data center generators, or HVAC company Comfort Systems, which is now providing services for the centers. Clean, readily available renewable energy is extremely valuable to companies looking to build out data centers. 

“As demand for reliable electricity grows, customers like Google need energy resources that can be deployed at scale, operate around the clock, and deliver where power is needed,” Fervo’s CEO and co-founder Tim Latimer said in a statement. 

Shares of Fervo Energy got a 28% boost from the news on Tuesday. While the company has 1,000 megawatts contracted with customers including Shell and utility company Edison, per The Wall Street Journal, it certainly needed the surge from the latest Google deal: 

• Fervo was considered a hot IPO in May, jumping 35% when it made its public debut on the Nasdaq. But the company has faltered since then as investors question the valuation of a business that’s aggressively spending while generating little revenue. In June, Jefferies equity analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith wrote that the company could be up against transmission constraints in the West as well. 
• Despite Tuesday’s stock price bump, shares are still down 46% since it went public. 

Bill’s Bets: Microsoft aside, Gates is known for his investments in climate-related startups, and Fervo isn’t the only one in the past few weeks getting a major push from companies hungry to build out data centers. Last month, Bloomberg reported that the Gates-founded nuclear power startup TerraPower is gearing up to announce a new project for a data center.