Houston company tapping into Utah’s geothermal power potential

MILFORD — As state leaders consider geothermal power as a future source of clean energy, a Houston-based company is already tapping into that potential right here in Utah.

However, they are doing it for California.

KSL TV traveled down to Beaver County for a look at what they’re doing and what it might take for Utah to get on board.

What is taking place

To access the power of the earth  — the heat, deep underneath — crews at Fervo Energy are carefully forging their path.

“We’re drilling here to about 9,000 feet deep and then we’re turning and were going another 5,000 feet,” said Sarah Jewett, vice president of strategy for Fervo Energy.

This is now company’s 16th well of 23 for Cape Station, which is a project that will span more than 630 acres, though the overall footprint will be smaller and include 20 power stations.

A geothermal resource

“There’s incredible geothermal resource under Beaver County, Utah,” Jewett said. “And because it’s really well situated to power into the market as well.”

Cape Station will initially send a hundred megawatts of power to California, starting in 2026. Eventually, it will build to 400 megawatts by 2028. It’s enough reliable baseload power to support more than 350,ooo homes.

Unlike wind or solar, geothermal can keep producing, regardless of the current weather conditions.

“We’re doing things that many of us who worked in the oil and gas industry have been doing for years and years,” Jewett said. “But we’re doing it instead for the production of clean power.”

A type of fracking helps access the hot rocks below that will help produce steam and eventually power.

Geothermal is now more attractive to states and other entities that prioritize clean energy, and Jewett says these new technologies are making production of it faster and cheaper.

“So we always had a hypothesis that this would work really well,” she said. “And that we would see, you know, costs coming down over time and efficiency going up.”

Taking a closer look

And Jewett says so far, that’s working out. Drilling at wells like the one in Beaver can be completed in about 15 days. It’s all part of why Utah leaders are now taking a close look at geothermal to become a part of the state’s diverse energy profile.

“And so when you think about one of the most affordable forms of power, being clean, firm, round the clock resource, it’s a really compelling, alternative for anyone we’re trying to sell to,” she said.

Jewett says Fervo closely monitors human-induced seismic activity around their sites. While hundreds of thousands of events have been triggered while work is underway, University of Utah monitoring stations have helped keep a close watch over their magnitude.

“I can guarantee you that if we caused any major and do seismicity, this is not a place where we will get to continue to operate and build,” she said.   

Fervo is touting Cape Station as the world’s largest next-generation geothermal project.

“It’s an incredibly exciting thing to watch,” Jewett said.

And if it continues to go as planned, it could help forge the power future of not only Utah, but for the nation.

“With the cost reduction that we’re seeing at this project and what we have planned,” Jewett said. “I think this is going to be an incredibly competitive resource for all states.”