Mazama Energy has secured $135 million in a funding round led by Centaurus Capital and Doerr Capital. Participants included ConocoPhillips, Shell Ventures, and existing backers like Khosla Ventures and Gates Frontier. New investors SiteGround Capital, H. Barton Asset Management, and the Jeffrey and Marieke Rothschild Foundation also joined the round.
The startup focuses on enhanced geothermal energy by drilling into super-hot rock at depths of approximately 15,000 feet. The company recently reached 10,000 feet in 15 days. At these depths, temperatures reach 750 degrees Fahrenheit, creating supercritical fluids that allow each well to generate up to 15 megawatts of electricity.
The company plans to begin electricity generation next year. Its primary site in Oregon is estimated to have a production capacity of 10 gigawatts, an increase from the previous estimate of 5 gigawatts. Mazama expects the first site to be fully developed by 2030, with an output target of 200 megawatts.
Mazama has already acquired land for a second development site. According to data from the University of Twente and the Clean Air Task Force, utilizing just 1 percent of global super-hot rock resources could potentially generate over 63 terawatts of electricity, positioning the technology as a power source for AI data centers.
