Google data centers began to work on boiling water from a depth of 2 km

On November 28, 2023, Google announced the launch of a new type of geothermal power plant that will supply power to the company's Nevada data centers. The capacity of the system as of the indicated date is 3.5 MW.

The project was implemented in collaboration with, startup Fervo which specializes in clean energy technologies. When creating a station, unique technical solutions are used. Unlike traditional geothermal power schemes, Fervo uses drilling techniques originally developed in the oil and gas industry. In particular, two horizontal wells were drilled at the Nevada facility: this made it possible to reach heat sources, which are problematic to access using conventional methods.

Google on launching a new type of geothermal power plant that will supply power to the company's data centers

Initially, it was planned that the capacity of the Google geothermal power plant would be 5 MW, but in fact it turned out to be 30% less. Fiber optic cables are installed inside the wells to collect data on the system operation: in real time, the energy consumption, temperature and performance of the geothermal platform are displayed. Unlike solar farms, whose operation depends on the time of day and weather conditions, the geothermal power plant is able to generate energy around the clock. It is noted that the new Google complex occupies a smaller area than other "green" power plants with comparable characteristics.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimated that geothermal sources could provide up to 120 GW of energy by 2050. This will satisfy more than 16% of the country's total electricity needs. Google, thanks to the deployment of such stations, will be able to approach its goal of transferring data centers and office campuses completely to carbon-free energy by 2030.^[1]

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