A power company in California called Southern California Edison has signed a deal to purchase electricity from a geothermal energy project in Utah being developed by the company Fervo Energy.
This will be one of the largest new geothermal power developments in the US, producing 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power around 400,000 homes.
Geothermal energy generates power by tapping into the Earth’s natural internal heat to run steam turbines. This project uses new drilling technologies to access heat from deeper underground rock.
Developing geothermal energy on a larger scale could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by providing a renewable source of baseload electricity to replace fossil fuel power plants.
This deal signifies increased commercial backing for geothermal power and shows it can meet growing demand for clean energy at a utility scale. It aims to begin delivering carbon-free power to California’s grid by 2026.
Geothermal currently accounts for a small portion of US electricity but projects like this aim to advance the technologies and lower costs to make it more competitive with other renewables.
Source: AP
