"We’re Trying To Meet The Moment As Fast As We Can" Featuring Tim Latimer, Fervo Energy

We are excited to share this “on-the-road” COBT episode featuring Tim Latimer, CEO and Co-Founder of Fervo Energy. Our team traveled to Milford, Utah, to tour Fervo’s Cape Station project before connecting with Tim for an in-depth conversation. Tim earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tulsa and started his career as a drilling engineer in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins. He co-founded Fervo in 2017 after earning an MBA and an MS in Environment and Resources from Stanford University. Fervo is a developer, owner, and operator of geothermal assets. The company recently raised $206 million to advance the buildout of Project Cape, with phase one expected to deliver 100 MW of power to the grid in 2026. It was our pleasure to visit with Tim about the evolving geothermal landscape. As you’ll hear, we were also joined by Kareem El-Sadi, Fervo’s Drilling Engineering Manager, who brought valuable insights from the field. Huge thanks to all our new friends at Fervo for their hospitality and patience. We really had a blast.
 
In our conversation, Tim shares the story of Fervo’s founding, explains the fundamentals of geothermal, and details what makes Fervo’s approach unique using deeper wells, horizontal laterals, and well stimulation. We explore the parallels between geothermal’s recent progress and the shale revolution, as well as Cape Station’s well specs, project economics and future cost reduction opportunities. We discuss how Fervo has dramatically improved dripping efficiency, cutting well costs from $13 million to ~$4 million by reducing the number of drill bits needed and decreasing total drilling days, the energy world’s shift from largely skeptical to increasingly bipartisan and broader support, policy tailwinds, and Fervo’s efforts to onshore supply chains amid steel and other tariffs. We cover geothermal versus oil and gas flow rates, design strategies for achieving high flow rates, water use efficiency, long-term production outlook, and overall “life of power plant” issues. We examine expansion plans for Cape Station, the leasing and mineral rights framework in geothermal, power plant design considerations including supply chain dynamics, permitting challenges and NEPA reviews, and project risk and learning curves from location to location. Tim shares his perspective on opportunities for geographic expansion beyond the Western U.S., cost curve and resource economics, commercial strategy and PPAs, near-term priorities for Fervo, geothermal’s underrepresentation in no-emissions power conversations, the competitive landscape, whether being a pioneer is an advantage or disadvantage, and much much more. It was a fantastic discussion.
 
Tim references a few items in today’s conversation. MIT’s paper entitled “The Future of Geothermal Energy” published in 2006 is linked here. Additionally, the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 is linked here.
 
Mike Bradley kicked off the discussion by noting that bond and equity markets are focused on Wednesday’s FOMC Rate Decision Meeting. Consensus expects the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged; however, if the Fed were to surprise with a rate cut, broader markets would initially surge before worry set in as to why! Turning to U.S. equities, while markets continue to post new highs, sentiment appears to have shifted toward a “sell the trade deal” mindset. This will be an important week for the Technology sector, broader equity markets, and electricity equities given that Apple, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft are all reporting results and investors are going to be listening closely to their projected AI spending levels. Mike also highlighted a major development in the transportation sector with Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern’s anno