Today's guest is Tim Latimer, Co-Founder and CEO of Fervo Energy.This is the first episode that I've done putting geothermal front and center, and Tim does a great job in this discussion of providing an overview of geothermal technology. I learn why it matters, where it is in its evolution, where it needs to get to and the barriers holding it back. We also talk a bunch about Tim's journey from starting as a drilling engineer, working in the Permian and Eagle Four Basins, to now being laser-focused on thermal technology and the clean energy transition. I really...
Today's guest is Tim Latimer, Co-Founder and CEO of Fervo Energy.
This is the first episode that I've done putting geothermal front and center, and Tim does a great job in this discussion of providing an overview of geothermal technology. I learn why it matters, where it is in its evolution, where it needs to get to and the barriers holding it back. We also talk a bunch about Tim's journey from starting as a drilling engineer, working in the Permian and Eagle Four Basins, to now being laser-focused on thermal technology and the clean energy transition. I really enjoyed this one and I hope you do as well.
You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.
In today’s episode, we cover:
- What is Fervo and what was its genesis?
- The origins of Tim’s interest in climate change.
- Tim’s early work experience in the fossil fuel industry as an oil-drilling engineer.
- How the vision of energy independence and coal-alternatives enticed him to enter the oil industry.
- The epiphany that prompted him to leave the fossil fuel industry and explore geothermal energy.
- Tim’s realization that the bottleneck for geothermal development is financing not research.
- Tim’s experience at Stanford Graduate School of Business and his decision to go all in on Fervo Energy.
- How geothermal systems work and what has historically hampered development outside of select countries.
- Fervo’s new horizontal-drilling approach and heat-flow distribution technique.
- Fervo Energy’s business model and its services.
- How geothermal offers a carbon-free renewable energy without the challenges of intermittency.
- Goal of developing first operational facility by 2021.
- How lands rights are treated.
- How geothermal can compensate for the night-time intermittency issue that has come with the growth of solar energy.
- The role of storage as it relates to geothermal energy.
- How Tim sees areas of risk for Fervo.
- What success looks like for Fervo.
Links to topics discussed in this episode:
- Fervo Energy: https://www.fervoenergy.com/
- MIT: “The Future of Geothermal Energy”: http://energy.mit.edu/research/future-geothermal-energy/
- TomKat Center at Stanford: https://tomkat.stanford.edu/
- Cyclotron Road: https://www.cyclotronroad.org/
- California’s SB100 Regulation: https://www.energy.ca.gov/sb100
- Geothermal Risk Mitigation Fund For East Africa: https://grmf-eastafrica.org/
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant
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