Fervo orders five power plants for Beaver Co. geothermal project
Utah’s groundbreaking geothermal power generation industry is gaining steam — literally.
Fervo Energy, the Houston-based company behind the Cape Station geothermal power generation project near Milford in Beaver County, has announced its selection of Baker Hughes, a global energy technology company, to design and deliver advanced power generation equipment for Cape Station’s Phase II.
“The agreement denotes a significant step forward for geothermal development in the United States and highlights the growing role of energy technology in expanding reliable, clean power,” Fervo said in its announcement.
Fervo Energy is a geothermal energy company that develops enhanced geothermal systems, leveraging innovations from the oil and gas industry. Its process produces energy by injecting water into hot subsurface rock formations and then extracting the heated water to generate electricity, rather than depending on naturally occurring underground hot water like traditional geothermal systems.
In addition to its headquarters, Fervo has offices in Salt Lake City; San Francisco; Golden, Colorado; and Reno, Nevada.
Baker Hughes, also based in Houston, develops and supplies equipment and services for the oil, gas and industrial sectors. The company was formed in 1987 from the merger of Baker Oil Tools and Hughes Tool Co. and operates through two main divisions: Oilfield Services and Industrial & Energy Technology. The Utah installation will come from the firm’s Industrial & Energy Technology division.
Under the award, Baker Hughes will supply five 60-megawatt Organic Rankine Cycle power plants, including turboexpanders and Brush Power Generation generators. When fully operational, the Cape Station Phase II plants will produce approximately 300 megawatts of renewable baseload power — enough to supply electricity for more than 180,000 U.S. homes, Fervo said.
The broader Cape Station project is one of the most ambitious geothermal developments in North America. Phase I is scheduled to deliver 100 megawatts of clean baseload power to the grid in 2026, while Phase II will add another 400 megawatts by 2028. The full Cape Station development has received permitting approval to provide up to 2 gigawatts of renewable energy.
“Once complete, the project will play a central role in demonstrating that geothermal power can be replicated, scaled and integrated as a major contributor to the U.S. energy mix,” Fervo Energy said on its website.
The new facilities will leverage Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), a cutting-edge technology pioneered by Fervo, which adapts advanced drilling and subsurface techniques to unlock clean, reliable geothermal energy at scale. Baker Hughes’ surface equipment will be integrated directly with Fervo’s EGS technology, creating a fully optimized system designed for long-term, continuous power generation.
Fervo Energy emphasized that Baker Hughes’ technology and expertise align closely with the progress being made at Cape Station. This latest award builds on Baker Hughes’ previous collaboration with Fervo Energy, which included supplying subsurface drilling and production technologies through its Oilfield Services division.
“Baker Hughes’ expertise and technology are ideal complements to the ongoing progress at Cape Station, which has been under construction and successfully meeting project milestones for almost two years,” said Tim Latimer, CEO and co-founder of Fervo Energy. “Fervo designed Cape Station to be a flagship development that’s scalable, repeatable and a proof point that geothermal is ready to become a major source of reliable, carbon-free power in the U.S.”
“Geothermal power is one of several renewable energy sources expanding globally and proving to be a vital contributor to advancing sustainable energy development,” said Lorenzo Simonelli, Baker Hughes chairman and CEO. “By working with a leader like Fervo Energy and leveraging our comprehensive portfolio of technology solutions, we are supporting the scaling of lower-carbon power solutions that are integral to meet growing global energy demand.”
An Organic Rankine Cycle generator is a closed thermodynamic system that converts low-grade heat into electricity by using an organic working fluid instead of water. The fluid, a substance such as a refrigerant or a hydrocarbon like butane or pentane, boils at a lower temperature than water, is heated and vaporized. The vapor expands through a turbine to generate mechanical power, which then drives a generator for electricity, and finally the fluid is condensed, pumped and reused in the cycle. In addition to geothermal power generation, ORCs are used for recovering waste heat from sources like industrial processes, biomass and solar thermal systems.