Silicon Valley’s Energy Awakening

You know, Silicon Valley used to focus its attention on buying apps.

Then, they focused on dishing out billions for new chips.

Now, the world’s biggest tech players are in a scramble to buy something far more important than either: Electricity.

I know, I know… that sounds a bit dramatic, right? 

Well, it is.  

At least, it is until you remember what’s sitting behind all the AI hype: servers that never sleep, buildings that never cool down, and a grid that was built for a gentler era when “peak demand” meant everybody turning on their air conditioner at 4 p.m.

Except, AI doesn’t care if it’s 4 p.m; to be fair, it doesn’t care much if the clock reads 4 a.m., too.

You see, that’s where the entire clean-energy (re: solar and wind) storyline hits the wall, because a data center’s favorite words are “reliability” and “dispatchable,” not “maybe it’s sunny tomorrow.”

This is why the word geothermal is suddenly being whispered in boardrooms full of people who normally don’t waste time on anything that can’t be measured in megawatts and profit margins.

Not because geothermal is trendy, mind you. 

It’s because it’s the rare kind of power that could provide a win-win opportunity for them.

The Geothermal Pivot Nobody Sees Coming

Look, traditional geothermal has always had a branding problem.

Don’t get me wrong, it works beautifully in the few places on Earth where nature politely does all the hard engineering for us. Hot water, porous rock, the right geology, the right depth — a perfect recipe sitting there like a gift basket.

And now enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) change the entire equation.

Rather than hunting for the perfect locations, the smart money is drilling directly into hot rock, engineering the reservoir, circulating fluid, and pulling steady heat out of the ground like you’re tapping into a buried furnace.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a page taken straight from the playbook that led to our game-changing tight oil boom.

The difference, however, is what comes out of the well.

Not hydrocarbons.

We’re talking pure electricity, folks — all day and all night long!

Of course, the moment this became a real market opportunity, it wasn’t some fancy pitch or virtue-signaling climate pledge that came next.

It was electricity hitting the grid.

In fact, it’s been a few years since Google and Fervo announced that their geothermal project in Nevada was operational, with carbon-free electricity flowing onto the local grid that serves Google’s data centers. 

That matters because it’s the kind of milestone investors cannot ignore for long. 

And here’s the best part — what comes next will be even bigger. 

Back in June, NV Energy released plans to supply Google with geothermal power based on a Clean Transition Tariff that scales the deal from a cute pilot to real grid-level volume, targeting 115 MW of clean, firm power. 

Then, another move took place in Utah — one that didn’t look like a science experiment but more like an actual power plant.

Fervo’s Cape Station is designed as a 500 MW next-generation geothermal project, with 100 MW scheduled to begin delivering power in 2026, and the remaining 400 MW expected online by 2028. 

By the way, that “2026” is not a typo.

This isn’t some distant 2040 pipe dream with a ribbon-cutting planned for your grandkids. It’s close enough to make utility planners nervous and oilfield service companies interested.

In fact, Shell Energy inked a 31 MW power purchase agreement tied to Cape Station’s first phase, with delivery beginning in 2026. 

Listen, THIS is what real adoption looks like — complete with contracts, timelines, and delivery dates.

That’s when Meta walked through the door and did what Meta always does.

And for us, it tells a story that’s impossible to ignore.

Meta signed an agreement with XGS Energy to develop 150 MW of advanced geothermal power in New Mexico, part of its plan to support its expanding AI infrastructure with cleaner electricity.

But that 150 MW figure sounds modest until you put it in context.

That’s roughly 4% of current U.S. geothermal production, which tells you exactly how small the existing market still is… and how big the runway can be.

This is where the investing narrative gets sharp.

Remember, geothermal isn’t trying to compete with intermittent sources like solar or wind. It’s competing with natural gas during the hours everyone forgets about, when reliability is worth a premium and grid operators stop being polite.

The other thing Wall Street should understand is how fast the cost curve can move when the oilfield shows up.

We know that Fervo’s technology helped cut drilling time by 70% and reduced cost per well from about $9.4 million to $4.8 million, using monitoring and operational improvements that look suspiciously like shale’s efficiency playbook. 

That’s how “expensive new tech” becomes pure economical power. 

The Geothermal Setup Hiding In Plain Sight

I know most investors still hear “geothermal” and picture Iceland or a novelty plant built near a hot spring.

But that couldn’t be the furthest from the truth. 

The new version looks like pure American industrial muscle — deep drilling, engineered rock, long-term contracts, and customers who can’t afford to lose power for even a heartbeat.

However, there’s also a quiet political tailwind here that doesn’t get enough attention.

Most people don’t realize that geothermal has a strange advantage in the U.S. energy wars; it tends to find support from multiple sides because it’s domestic, reliable, AND doesn’t come with the same transmission fights that stall other renewables.

But the bigger point is this…

When tech companies are spending billions on data centers, the marginal cost of power is no longer marginal.

That’s why geothermal is moving from interesting to urgent, and why investors should treat it like a new category, not a subtopic under green energy.

The thing is, the early geothermal winners won’t just be the companies drilling the wells.

No, the winners will be found among the players doing the actual drilling, supplying the equipment, performing the completions, keeping tabs on the monitoring systems, the grid interconnects, and the engineering brains that make a project bankable.

As you can see, it’s the same way the shale boom minted fortunes for the companies that built the picks and shovels, not just the ones selling the oil.

And here’s the best part: this story doesn’t require a miracle.

All it needs is a power grid begging for clean baseload power, hungry buyers quick to ink new contracts, and an industry that already knows how to drill deep and move fast.

All three are already on the board.

That’s why I think geothermal is about to stop being a “nice idea” and start being a very serious investing theme.

Not someday.

Now.