Fervo Energy, a company that essentially fracks the Earth for clean energy instead of oil, just pulled off one of the most impressive clean-tech IPOs in recent memory. Shares priced at $27 opened around $36 on the first trading day, a roughly 33% pop. The company sold 70 million shares, upsized from an initial offering of 55.56 million, raising approximately $1.89 billion and landing a valuation around $7.7 billion. Post-IPO gains have reached as high as 42% from the original offering price.
Why geothermal, why now
Geothermal energy runs 24/7 with near-zero emissions. The catch has always been that traditional geothermal only works in geologically blessed spots, think Iceland or parts of Nevada. Fervo’s innovation is applying horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques borrowed from the oil and gas industry to unlock geothermal resources in places that don’t have natural hot springs bubbling to the surface.
The company’s flagship project, Cape Station in Utah, aims for a total capacity of 500 MW. The first 100 MW phase is expected to come online by 2026, with the remaining 400 MW targeted for 2028. Fervo has already proven the model works at smaller scale. The company previously established a 115 MW deal with Google in Nevada through NV Energy and ran a 3.5 MW pilot project called Project Red.
