USA geothermal exploration company Zanskar has announced the discovery of ‘Big Blind’, the first commercial blind geothermal system in the US in over 30 years.
Located in Western Nevada, Zanskar discovered a geothermal anomaly that indicated the site, which has no geothermal manifestations at the surface nor any history of geothermal exploration, possesses exceptionally high heat flow. The company’s team of experts leveraged its AI-predication engine to find viable well targets to test the temperature and permeability of the system.
Back in July and August 2025, Zanskar drilled two intermediate depth wells and intersected a permeable reservoir at roughly 2,700 feet deep. These conditions exceed minimum thresholds for utility-scale geothermal power and contrast greatly with regional background subsurface conditions which would require greater well field depths and expensive stimulations.
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 characterisation, including full-sized well drilling and long-term flow tests of the resource.
Carl Hoiland, Co-Founder and CEO of Zanskar, said, “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. The speed and repeatability our team has demonstrated is incredible, enabling us to quickly identify and drill at new sites across the western US, with the potential to deliver energy at gigawatt scale.”
Co-Founder and CTO Joel Edwards commented, “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. What is often called ‘conventional geothermal’ is a tremendous, untapped source for reliable clean, firm power at low costs in the western US. 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 faciliti4es with the drill bit.”