The startup’s partnership with Reno, Nevada-based Ormat will allow Sage to access land and power-plant equipment and to connect to the grid far more quickly than if the startup set up a new site on its own. The companies are looking to install the next-generation system at a facility where Ormat’s older conventional wells are declining in capacity.
“In general, plants may operate below capacity due to a combination of factors, such as changes in the geothermal resource over time,” said Smadar Lavi, Ormat’s vice president and head of investor relations and ESG planning and reporting. “These sites are well-suited for piloting Sage’s technology, as it offers the potential to unlock additional production from existing assets.”
Terra Rogers of the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force said that Ormat’s decision to expand beyond its traditional hydrothermal resources and into next-generation tech represents “an important step, and we’ve all been waiting for it.” Rogers, who leads the advocacy group’s superhot rock geothermal program, called Ormat the “grandparents of geothermal,” given that the company has been around for 60 years and operates more than 190 geothermal plants globally.
As part of the agreement, Ormat can license Sage’s technologies for power generation as well as energy storage. The startup uses a similar setup to store excess grid energy. But instead of drilling deep into high-temperature rocks, Sage pumps water into shallower formations that aren’t as hot, since heat isn’t needed for storage. Pressure builds up underground and can be released later, when power demand spikes, to spin a pinwheel-like Pelton turbine and send electricity back to the grid.
“The idea that [Ormat] chose Sage specifically, with their storage technology, is also very telling for the needs of the grid in the West,” Rogers said, adding that it “complements existing or intermittent forms of renewables” like wind and solar.
Sage recently finished building its first commercial storage project on the site of a coal plant owned by San Miguel Electric Cooperative in Christine, Texas. The facility, which is expected to connect to the Texas grid in December, will be able to discharge 3 MW for four to six hours at a time, according to Taff.
The startup plans to perform a demonstration of its electricity-generating tech in the first quarter of 2026 in Starr County, Texas, in partnership with the U.S. Air Force. Sage is also evaluating potential sites east of the Rocky Mountains to develop its 150-MW project with Meta.
Fervo, meanwhile, continues drilling away at its Cape Station project in Beaver County, Utah, which has been under construction for almost two years.
The eight-year-old company said an initial 100-MW installation is poised to start delivering power to the grid in 2026. An additional 400 MW is slated to come online in 2028, a portion of which will use the new equipment from Baker Hughes. The startup’s recent supply deal comes just months after Fervo said it secured $206 million in new financing for the Cape Station project.
“Fervo designed Cape Station to be a flagship development that’s scalable, repeatable, and a proof point that geothermal is ready to become a major source of reliable, carbon-free power in the U.S.,” Tim Latimer, Fervo’s CEO and cofounder, said in a Sept. 2 statement.
