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Mazama Energy raises $135 million to test superhot-rock geothermal in Oregon. Key points * Mazama says its oversubscribed Series B was led by Centaurus Capital and Doerr Capital, with ConocoPhillips, Shell Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Gates Frontier among the participants. [[1]] * The company says its Athena well reached 10,350 feet in 15 drilling days and is being extended toward rock at roughly 750°F. [[1]] * Mazama's 15-megawatt claim is described differently across its materials: the funding announcement says 15 MWe per well, while the project page describes a two-well pair targeting 15 megawatts in initial testing. [[1]] [[2]] * The Bureau of Land Management has completed a categorical exclusion for the Ceres drilling plan, but additional drilling permits remain necessary. [[3]] Mazama Energy has raised $135 million to push its superhot-rock geothermal project in central Oregon toward a power-generation test, giving the startup capital to drill deeper, build horizontal wells and target temperatures above the point where water becomes supercritical. [[1]] The Frisco, Texas-based company says Project Ceres could demonstrate 15 megawatts of initial capacity in 2027 at its Newberry site. That figure is a design target: Mazama has created and circulated an engineered reservoir at high temperature, but its new system has not yet generated electricity. [[1]] [[2]] A faster second well, aimed at hotter rock. The financing includes an oversubscribed Series B led by Centaurus Capital, founded by John Arnold, and Doerr Capital. ConocoPhillips and Shell Ventures joined the round, while Khosla Ventures and Gates Frontier reinvested. SiteGround Capital, H. Barton Asset Management and the Jeffrey and Marieke Rothschild Foundation also participated. Mazama's announcement describes the total as $135 million in new capital; Axios reported that the amount includes the Series B and grants. [[1]] [[4]] Mazama's Newberry project is near Newberry Volcano in central Oregon. In 2025, the company drilled a well to 10,200 feet and reported 629°F, or 331°C, at the bottom after creating an engineered geothermal reservoir and circulating water through it. That result established the company's reported temperature record, but it was not commercial power production. [[1]] [[2]] Project Athena, the second well, reached 10,350 feet in 15 drilling days in September 2026, according to Mazama. The company says it is drilling roughly another mile toward rock at about 750°F, or 400°C. At about 705°F, water reaches its critical point and becomes a supercritical fluid that can carry more energy than ordinary hot water or steam. [[1]] [[2]] How the 15-megawatt target would work. Mazama's system is an enhanced-geothermal design. It drills into hot, relatively impermeable rock, creates connected flow paths underground, injects water and brings heated fluid back to the surface. A power plant would then convert that heat into electricity. The company groups the approach under its MUSE platform, which combines high-temperature drilling, its Thermal Lattice reservoir technology and heat-harvesting tools. [[2]] [[5]] The company's public materials use two different descriptions of the initial power target. The funding announcement says Ceres will advance horizontal wells toward 15 MWe of capacity per well. Mazama's project page says Ceres consists of two horizontal wells, each more than half a mile long, connected by an engineered reservoir and designed to generate 15 megawatts in initial testing. That distinction matters because a 15-megawatt well and a 15-megawatt well pair imply different drilling costs and project economics. [[1]] [[2]] Mazama plans to use Ceres to demonstrate power generation in 2027. Its longer-term plan calls for a 200-megawatt Newberry plant, with drilling and construction during 2027 and 2028, first power targeted for 2029 and full output in 2030. The company says it is seeking independent certification of more than 10 gigawatts of resource potential at the site, a resource estimate separate from demonstrated generating capacity. [[1]] [[2]] Permits are advancing, while the economics remain modeled. The Bureau of Land Management says it completed a categorical exclusion and decision record for Project Ceres in July 2026. The approved plan covers one well pad, access-road work, up to three geothermal wells, a freshwater well and possible waterline routes. BLM also says subsequent sundry notices and geothermal drilling permits must still be issued. [[3]] Mazama's website models a levelized cost of electricity of $59 per megawatt-hour using GEOPHIRES, a 500-megawatt, 30-year project, the federal Section 48E investment tax credit and temperature scenarios from 200°C to 450°C. The presentation compares that modeled figure with a $45-per-megawatt-hour Department of Energy target, a $50-to-$100 natural-gas range and $141-plus for new nuclear. Those are modeled comparisons, not costs from an operating Mazama plant. [[2]] The technical hurdles extend beyond drilling speed. Independent geothermal research identifies unresolved questions around well and tool integrity, fluid-rock reactions, reservoir longevity and injection-induced seismicity in superhot conditions. DOE describes Mazama's Newberry work as a demonstration intended to test whether a commercially viable reservoir can be created under those conditions. [[5]] [[6]] A crowded field of advanced geothermal developers. Mazama is raising capital as several geothermal companies move from laboratory claims toward field demonstrations. Canary Media reported that Fervo Energy went public in 2026 and signed a large power-purchase agreement with Google, while Sage Geosystems began producing power from a pilot system in Texas. Quaise Energy, which is also pursuing deep geothermal near Newberry, closed a $180 million funding round in August 2026. [[4]] Those projects do not use identical designs. Fervo is developing horizontal enhanced-geothermal reservoirs at more conventional temperatures, Sage is testing a pressure-based geothermal system, and Quaise is developing millimeter-wave drilling for very deep wells. Mazama's differentiator is its attempt to create a productive reservoir at temperatures approaching or exceeding the supercritical threshold. [[4]] [[7]] Mazama's next concrete test is therefore Ceres: whether high-temperature horizontal wells can sustain commercial fluid flow and convert underground heat into measurable electricity. Until that happens, the 15-megawatt figure and the company's $59-per-megawatt-hour estimate remain engineering targets rather than operating results. [[1]] [[2]] Companies mentioned. At the intersection of AI, tech, and markets. The stories that matter, in one email. Free - unsubscribe anytime.

Mazama Energy has raised $135 million in a Series B funding round led by Centaurus Capital and Doerr Capital to scale its superhot rock geothermal technology. ConocoPhillips and Shell Ventures joined the round, alongside repeat investors Khosla Ventures and Gates Frontier. The Dallas-based company holds the record for the hottest engineered geothermal system, reaching 629°F at Newberry, Oregon in 2025. Its latest well, Project Athena, was drilled 80% faster than the previous year and targets even hotter temperatures of 750°F, which can deliver up to 10 times the power of conventional geothermal wells. The funding will support Project Ceres, backed by the US Department of Energy, which aims to demonstrate power generation in 2027. Mazama is targeting more than 10 gigawatts of resource potential at Newberry alone.