Ex-EBay CEO invested in geothermal energy with Bill Gates' foundation

Fervo Energy, a company that produces geothermal energy from renewable sources, has raised a $28 million investment from Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund and Capricorn Investment Group of eBay's first CEO Jeff Skol, founder Tim Latimer told TechCrunch. 

Jeffrey Skol

Jeff was born on 16 January 1965 in Montreal, Canada to a Jewish family. His father was the owner of a chemical company and his mother was a school teacher

Upon entering the University of Toronto he paid his own tuition, earning money from a North York petrol station. As a student, he held an editorial position at The Toike Oike, a satirical newspaper. In 1987, he graduated with honours with a degree in electrical engineering. 

After graduating, he travelled the world for a few months and upon his return he founded two companies - Skoll Engineering (IT consulting) and Micros on the Move Ltd (machinery leasing).

In 1993 he left Canada to pursue an MBA at Stanford Business School, graduating in 1995. 

After receiving his business degree, he works for a while at Knight Ridder, where he works on Internet projects for publishing companies.

In 1996, Jeffrey meets eBay creator Pierre Omidyar, who hires him as the first permanent employee of his company as president. In 1998, he was succeeded by Margaret Whitman. 

After leaving eBay, the billionaire focused on managing his own Skoll Foundation. He is engaged in social entrepreneurship - invests in health care and education in developing countries.

• In 2003, Skoll was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto. 
• In 2004, Skoll founded and ran Participant Media, a Los Angeles-based documentary and independent film production company. The following year, this company released its first films, North Country, Syriana, The Killing Game and Good Night and Good Luck. Only in the three years of the producer's existence, have been submitted to the Oscars 11 times.
•  In 2009, Jeff Skoll creates the Skoll Global Threats Fund to address climate change and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 
• In 2011, he became an Officer of the Order of Canada for his social and charitable work.
• In August 2013, Skoll launched his own television channel, Pivot, whose target audience is young people who are hungry for change in society.

Tim Latimer was born into a family of oil workers and got his first job in the oil and gas industry. After a few years, he saw the world moving away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, which prompted him to launch his startup. "I was able to hire people who were out of work or facing hardship because of the collapse in oil prices," Latimer says.

 The company was founded with a TomKat Center grant from Stanford University and a fellowship from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Fervo Energy later received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Geothermal Technologies.

Other startups, such as Eavor, GreenFire Energy and Sage Geosystems, are doing similar production, but Fervo Energy has different production methods. Investors have called the company a leader in the new wave of geothermal energy.

As TechCrunch writes, geothermal energy costs between $65 and $75 per MW. By comparison, power from solar plants costs between $35 and $55 per MW, The Verge wrote. Despite the price, utility companies favour geothermal - it's more stable and predictable, and power can be guaranteed without interruptions.

Demand for geothermal energy has grown in the past year. If from 2016 to 2019 there was only one major contract in the U.S., in 2020 - 10 at once.