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Houston PE firm unveils oversubscribed $450M fund to advance nuclear power innovation

Pelican Energy Partners has raised more than it intended with its new nuclear-focused fund. Photo via Getty Images

Houston-based private equity firm Pelican Energy Partners has raised a $450 million fund to invest in nuclear energy services and equipment companies.

Pelican had aimed to raise $300 million for Pelican Energy Partners Base Zero LP and had imposed an initial “hard cap” of $400 million. Investors include endowments, foundations, family offices, and pension plans.

As of the fund’s closing date, the fund had wrapped up six investments, with several more deals expected to close by the end of this year.

In a news release, Pelican says the fund “is committed to growing and improving nuclear services companies, which are critical to sustaining and enhancing the installed nuclear power generation base.” Nuclear energy accounts for more than one-fifth of U.S. power generation and nearly half of U.S. carbon-free electricity.

“The wide-ranging enthusiasm for Base Zero is a testament to the growing interest and necessity of nuclear power. We look forward to continuing to build an outstanding portfolio where we can add substantial value and achieve excellent returns for our partners,” says Jay Surina, managing director of Pelican.

Since 2012, Pelican has raised over $1 billion for investments in companies in the energy services, equipment manufacturing, and technology sectors.

Houston-area companies that have received Pelican investments include AWC Frac Technology, Axon Energy Services, GHT, Vault Pressure Control, Epic International, P360 Management Solutions, Multilift Wellbore Technology, EnerCorp, Downhole Technology, and Capline Environmental Services.

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A View From HETI

Fervo Energy has released its third-quarter earnings. Photo via fervoenergy.com

Houston-based geothermal power company Fervo Energy saw a 65 percent spike in purchase orders during the third quarter.

During Fervo’s third-quarter earnings call, Tim Latimer, co-founder, chair, president and CEO, said the company had a $11.9 billion backlog of orders, up from $7.2 billion in the previous quarter.

Those numbers didn’t translate to robust financial results in the third quarter, though. It closed the quarter with an operating loss of $43 million on revenue of just $116,000.

Beyond the billions of dollars in signed purchase agreements, Fervo is in talks with prospective customers in the utility, industrial data-center sectors, Latimer said. About half the potential customers are in the data-center sector, 35 percent in the utility sector and 15 percent in the industrial sector.

Latimer said the broad-based demand reflected by the backlog and the discussions with potential customers reinforces the critical need for reliable, readily available power.

“Our approach to power delivery will continue to blend front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter development,” he said. “Grid-connected assets remain the foundation, though behind-the-meter gives customers a faster path to power when transmission time lines lag their need.”

Front-of-the-meter refers to power plants, utility-scale solar and wind farms, large grid batteries, and transmission and distribution infrastructure. Behind-the-meter assets sit on the customer side of the meter, such as backup generators and EV chargers at homes, businesses, factories and other everyday places.

The order backlog isn’t Fervo’s only recent milestone. In late September, the company’s Cape Station geothermal plant in Utah started delivering its first utility-scale geothermal power to the grid. The plant is producing about 33 megawatts of power.

Earlier in September, Fervo signed a 15-year deal to supply about 396 megawatts of power for Google data centers. The power will be delivered in four 99-megawatt batches. The company filed its $1.89 billion IPO this spring.

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