Texas-based Mazama Energy has raised over $135M to advance EGS geothermal development at Newberry Volcano in central Oregon. According to OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting), the funds will go toward drilling thousands of feet into the earth to harness heat from superhot rock for continuous power generation.
Key highlights:
- $135M Series B round, with participation from Centaurus Capital, Doerr Capital, ConocoPhillips, Shell Ventures, and Khosla Ventures.
- In 2025, Mazama reached 331°C in an engineered geothermal reservoir — a world record for EGS systems, confirmed at Stanford University’s 51st Geothermal Reservoir Engineering Symposium in February 2026.
- The second well was completed in approximately two weeks — 80% faster than the first.
- Project Ceres targets 15 MW in 2027 (≈4,500 homes), 50 MW in 2029, and 200 MW in 2030 (≈200,000 homes).
Project Ceres: from 15 MW in 2027 to 200 MW in 2030
Ceres is built around horizontal well development that the company says can deliver 15 MW from a single well. Mazama Energy communications director Pete Lumley told OPB that the company views this as “an investment in Oregon’s energy future.” By 2029, Mazama plans to reach 50 MW capacity, and by 2030 — 200 MW, enough to power roughly 200,000 average households.
The company now estimates the long-term potential of the Newberry site at 10 GW of continuous commercial generation — a notable upward revision from the 5 GW figure that investor Vinod Khosla cited last year. The project faces regional competition: fellow Texas firm Quaise Energy is pursuing a 50 MW Project Obsidian by 2030, using millimeter-wave drilling technology.
A second well in two weeks — at $100,000 a day
Last year, Mazama drilled a well to more than 10,000 feet (over 3 km), reaching rock temperatures of up to 629°F (≈331°C). The second well to the same depth was completed in roughly two weeks — 80% faster than the first. Drilling speed is not just an engineering milestone here but an economic one: according to Lumley, a single day of drilling costs Mazama over $100,000.
In the next phase (Project Athena), the company plans to reach depths beyond 15,000 feet. Deeper means hotter: at temperatures around 400°C (≈750°F) and elevated pressure, water enters a supercritical state — neither liquid nor gas. In that regime, the working fluid absorbs far more energy than conventional steam, which Mazama calculates can yield up to 10 times more power per well than traditional geothermal systems.
Who else is drilling at Newberry and across Oregon
According to OPB, several other players have become active in the region alongside Mazama and Quaise. Virginia-based Hexagon Energy announced in September 2026 plans to explore geothermal opportunities on Weyerhaeuser Co. lands in Oregon and Washington. In August, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management sold geothermal development rights to undisclosed developers for 9,500 acres in the Mount Hood National Forest for more than $1 million. Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang told OPB that these investments could bring the region high-paying jobs and potentially energy exports; he also expressed hope for “community benefit agreements” covering training programs in local schools, community colleges, and at OSU Cascades.
Why this story matters beyond Oregon
EGS geothermal has long been more scientific promise than commercial reality. The record-setting 331°C in an engineered reservoir in 2025, a dramatically shorter second drill cycle, and the entry of oil-and-gas majors — ConocoPhillips and Shell Ventures — into the funding round all point to a technology moving out of the pilot stage. For anyone weighing options for firm, dispatchable clean generation, this is a space worth watching closely.
Sources: OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting), TechCrunch
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Prepared by the Alternative Energy editorial team with the help of AI based on the sources listed; facts and figures were checked against them during automated editorial review. How we prepare articles