SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Zanskar, the largest geothermal exploration company in the U.S., today announced the discovery of ‘Big Blind,’ the first blind geothermal system identified and confirmed to be commercial in the U.S. by the industry in over 30 years. Located in western Nevada, the site possesses no geothermal manifestations at the surface, and no history of geothermal exploration or other prior well data.
Using its market-leading prospecting toolkit, Zanskar discovered a geothermal anomaly that indicated the site possesses exceptionally high heat flow. Zanskar’s team of geologists then leveraged its AI-prediction engine to site viable well targets to test the temperature and permeability of the system, as well as its spatial extent. Zanskar drilled two intermediate depth wells in July and August 2025 and intersected an approximately 250°F permeable reservoir at roughly 2,700 feet depth. These conditions exceed minimum thresholds for utility-scale geothermal power and contrast greatly with regional background subsurface conditions, which would require much greater well field depths (~10,000 ft) and expensive stimulations associated with next-gen drilling technologies to achieve similar temperature and permeability conditions to what these discovery wells encountered in a natural geothermal system.
Naturally occurring geothermal systems with characteristics similar to Big Blind can produce over 100 MWe of domestic power each with off-the-shelf power plant technology. The exact capacity of Big Blind will be confirmed by additional exploration drilling and reservoir characterization, including full-sized well drilling and long-term flow tests of the resource. Importantly, these discovery wells only scratch the surface of this naturally occurring geothermal system, which extends to much greater depths, and contains higher-temperature thermal energy that can be reached and utilized during the exploitation stage.
“The discovery of ‘Big Blind’ further validates Zanskar’s geological AI foundation models as well as the ingenuity of its growing geology and drilling teams, and positions the company for rapid growth as the market opportunity for domestic conventional geothermal energy production heats up,” said Carl Hoiland, co-founder and CEO at Zanskar. “The speed and repeatability our team has demonstrated is incredible, enabling us to quickly identify and drill at new sites across the western U.S., with the potential to deliver energy at gigawatt scale.”
This unveiling of Big Blind follows Lightning Dock (in New Mexico) and Pumpernickel (also in Nevada), firmly establishing Zanskar among the most prominent geothermal discovery companies in the world. The discovery and confirmation of the first blind geothermal site in 30+ years is just the beginning, as Zanskar has already found a deep bench of additional geothermal anomalies that are slated for deeper exploratory drilling. Zanskar’s stream of new geothermal discoveries will enable large energy consumers, governments, and utilities to scale their adoption of clean, firm, geothermal energy. Zanskar’s AI-native technology is both cost effective and highly repeatable, turning hidden geothermal resources into solutions for addressing increased energy demand and its resulting cost pressures.
“Naturally occurring geothermal systems are commonly overlooked for being ‘too difficult to find,’ or ‘too sparse to matter’, a narrative being dispelled by Zanskar’s ability to repeatedly find new geothermal hotspots such as Big Blind,” said Joel Edwards, co-founder and CTO at Zanskar. “What’s often called ‘conventional geothermal’ is a tremendous, untapped source for reliable clean, firm power at low costs in the western U.S. We’re excited that after years of behind-the-scenes work finding these new geothermal hotspots, we’re now proving they can support power generation facilities with the drill bit.”
About Zanskar
Zanskar is the first AI-native geothermal energy company using AI to transform how we find, assess, and deliver geothermal energy. Combining artificial intelligence, modern drilling, and advanced geoscience modeling, Zanskar is unlocking value from forgotten, hidden, underutilized, or undiscovered geothermal fields that industry narratives would tell you are “tapped-out.” Following the success of Lightning Dock in New Mexico, already the most productive pumped geothermal well in the United States, and the recent exploratory drilling success at Pumpernickel and Big Blind in Nevada, Zanskar is showing that it has a repeatable, scalable model that it’s deploying across a growing portfolio of newly discovered or overlooked sites to develop, build, own, and operate high-grade geothermal assets as a foundational component of the modern grid. Learn more: https://www.zanskar.com/
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