Kei Tomozawa joined Fervo as a Development Analyst supporting commercial negotiations and project management. He now is a part of Fervo’s rotational program, which allows early-career team members to increase exposure to other teams and grow professionally. Kei’s current role is split between Project Engineering and Financial Analysis.

What made you want to join the Fervo team?

I first learned about Fervo Energy through the introductory energy class at Stanford; Tim Latimer actually taught the class on geothermal energy! Following that class, I started as a summer intern at Fervo. After my internship, I was confident that Fervo had a collaborative and innovative spirit and knew that was something I wanted to be a part of full time.  

Favorite part of the job?

I get to work with incredibly smart people across so many teams. What struck me as an early career entrant was the fact that so many colleagues were willing to take time out of their day to share their expertise. Everyone carries a good dose of humility in terms of admitting where our knowledge gaps are. Leaving our egos at the door is paramount when tackling something as large as building next-generation geothermal projects.

In your time at Fervo, what has been your favorite project thus far?

My favorite project thus far has been the one I am currently working on: electrifying our drilling rigs. Our plants ultimately provide emissions-free electricity, but we are taking it one step further to ensure how we build our plants is emissions-free. This drive to decarbonize all aspects of our business is one small example of Fervo’s ambitious nature and commitment to accelerating the clean energy transition.

I especially enjoy the work, because it involves working across different teams both internally at Fervo and amongst vendors / contractors. I have the privilege to work with incredibly smart people from land & permitting to interconnection to drilling to surface facilities!

Any advice for those interested in working in geothermal or the clean energy space?

Be curious! I knew very little about the power sector or oil & gas industry going into this role, but I now find both energy markets and geothermal development to be some of the most fascinating subjects in the world. There’s a role for everyone too, not just engineering. This industry needs smart people in the world of policy, finance, development, accounting, supply chain, etc.