Geothermal facility begins operations to supply power to Google data centers

A geothermal power plant in Nevada, where drilling techniques developed by the oil and gas industry are used – is providing a small amount of power for Google’s data centers, the company announced Tuesday.

Google partnered with Fervo Energy two years ago to develop geothermal energy to reach Google’s goal of running operations entirely on energy produced without carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.

Fervo announced in July it had successfully drilled a horizontal well pair with horizontal lengths of 3,250 feet, tapping into heat sources of 376 degree fahrenheit.

“By applying drilling technology from the oil and gas industry, we have proven that we can produce 24/7 carbon-free energy resources in new geographies across the world,” Fervo Energy CEO Tim Latimer said in a statement.

The site, which is near the city of Winnemucca, and now consists of three wells, provided 3.5 megawatts of power to the grid. The data centers, the Associate Press reports, require much more energy than that.

At 3.5 megawatts, the facility produces about as much energy as a single land-based wind turbine.