Fermi America and MVM EGI Announce Water-Saving Hybrid Cooling Agreement for World's Largest Private Energy Grid, Delivering on Promises Made to Protect West Texas Water Resources
- Agreement initiates the design and development of hybrid dry–wet cooling towers, leveraging an existing, proven design platform to prioritize air-based cooling and dramatically reduce water use compared to conventional systems
- Collaboration enables closed-loop circulation, minimizing evaporation and ensuring good stewardship of the region's water resources
- Delivering on promises made, the MOU reinforces Fermi's commitment to put water conservation at the core of the project's cooling strategy from day one
AMARILLO, Texas, Dec. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Fermi America™ (NASDAQ:FRMI), in partnership with the Texas Tech University System, today announced it has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with MVM EGI Zrt., one of the world's leading hybrid dry–wet cooling innovators, to engineer and develop a next-generation cooling system for Fermi's 11-gigawatt private energy grid campus. The agreement marks a major step forward in delivering reliable, clean energy at scale, while being good stewards of the region's natural resources.
Under the non-binding MOU, Fermi America and MVM EGI will partner on preliminary engineering, and feasibility studies for a series of indirect hybrid cooling towers that will support both of Project Matador's 6 gigawatts of combined-cycle natural gas generation and four AP1000 nuclear units. Leveraging an existing, proven hybrid cooling design, the partnership will adapt and optimize the system for West Texas conditions. Together, the companies will define cooling requirements, evaluate tower configurations, assess site and height constraints, and model the water-saving performance that hybrid cooling can deliver at scale.
This early engineering work lays the foundation for the campus's long-term cooling strategy. The MOU outlines a sequence of milestones—including requirements definition, concept validation, and feasibility assessment—that will lead to a detailed design. Construction of the first cooling tower is scheduled to begin in January 2026, with the full cooling system completed by 2034 to match the phased build-out of the gas and nuclear units.
These hybrid towers represent a major advancement in responsible energy development. By relying primarily on air cooling and circulating water through closed-loop systems, the design sharply reduces evaporative loss, conserving precious water resources. The collaboration also includes evaluation of recycled and reclaimed water, as well as underground reservoirs and solar-covered retention ponds—technologies that further limit evaporation and protect the Ogallala Aquifer.
"Fermi isn't some out-of-town operation parachuting in. Our leadership is from West Texas — we grew up on this dirt, and we care about the land and its resources," stated Fermi America Co-Founder and CEO Toby Neugebauer. "As promised, we're working with global innovators like MVM to ensure Project Matador complements the long-term water needs of the region, building something big, but doing it the right way."
"MVM EGI has been on the cutting-edge of power cooling for more than half a century maintaining the heritage of our founders, Professor László Heller and Professor László Forgó whom the high-capacity water-saving dry cooling systems are named after worldwide," added MVM EGI P.L.C. CEO Péter Kárpáti. "We are pleased to partner with Fermi America, the world's largest private utility, to ensure efficient and responsible cooling of their gas generation and nuclear power in the panhandle of Texas in line with our motto: Less water, more power."
The collaboration reflects both companies' commitment to transparent, community-oriented development. With billions of dollars in investment and a 99-year lease with the Texas Tech University System, Fermi America's business model is directly tied to the health of the Panhandle and the long-term sustainability of the Ogallala Aquifer. The MOU reinforces that alignment by putting water conservation at the core of the project's cooling strategy from day one.
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About Fermi America
Fermi America™ (NASDAQ:FRMI) (LSE: FRMI) (https://fermiamerica.com/) is pioneering the development of next-generation private electric grids that deliver highly redundant power at gigawatt scale, required to create next-generation artificial intelligence. Co-founded by former U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and Co-founder and former Co-Managing Partner of Quantum Energy, Toby Neugebauer, Fermi America™ combines cutting-edge technology with a deep bench of proven world-class multi-disciplinary leaders to create the world's largest, 11 GW next-gen private grid. The behind-the-meter Project Matador campus is expected to integrate the nation's biggest combined-cycle natural gas project, one of the largest clean, new nuclear power complexes in America, utility grid power, solar power, and battery energy storage, to deliver hyperscaler artificial intelligence.
About the Texas Tech University System
Established in 1996, the Texas Tech University System is one of the top public university systems in the nation, consisting of five universities – Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Angelo State University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso and Midwestern State University.
Headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, the TTU System is a more than $3 billion enterprise focused on advancing higher education, health care, research and outreach with approximately 21,000 employees and 64,000 students, more than 400,000 alums, a statewide economic impact of $19.2 billion and an endowment valued at $3 billion. In its short history, the TTU System has grown tremendously and is nationally acclaimed, operating at 20 academic locations in 16 cities (15 in Texas, 1 international).
In addition, the TTU System is one of only nine in the nation to offer programs for undergraduate, medical, law, nursing, pharmacy, dental and veterinary education among other academic areas.
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