(The Center Square) – New geothermal energy findings in Nevada make massive expansion of the clean energy source look more likely than ever, experts say.
The recent geothermal discovery conducted by University Nevada, Reno graduates made use of what’s called forward-thinking artificial intelligence technology. They see the purposeful “blind” site discovery as part of a new wave of geothermal energy in the U.S.
In 2024, “8.5% of electricity generated in Nevada was geothermal – and we think it could be much higher than that,” said Cary Lindsey, research geologist for the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Nevada to think 25% of our electricity generated in Nevada could be geothermal,” Lindsey told The Center Square.
Like this most recent discovery, geothermal energy comes from naturally stored heated water reserves below the Earth’s surface. It’s the same kind of hot underground source that the Romans famously used for their hot spring baths and that people around the world have enjoyed for millennia.
Blind sites like this most recent discovery outside of Tonopah, Nevada, nicknamed “Big Blind” by geothermal exploration company Zanskar, are the most fickle form of geothermal sites. It’s considered to be blind because there is no existing drilling, no surface-level hot springs or other indications. Prospective geothermal extractors are completely blind to their potential.
In Nevada, reports suggest about 70% of geothermal systems are hidden in blind sites, a largely untapped resource.
Much like other drilling industries, frontier technology in the world of geothermal energy is commonplace.
“Almost everyone that I know uses AI in exploration to some degree,” said Lindsey. “Over the last 10 years it’s grown in our space, just like it’s grown in every other space really.”
Zanskar, founded in 2021, brands itself as “a new kind of energy company” that accentuates its use of AI models in site discovery. The company aims to target untapped blind sites, like Big Blind, which have largely been ignored in the industry.
Zanskar co-founder Joel Edwards told The Center Square that the Big Blind discovery is among the site discoveries that are able to produce commercially viable amounts of energy. Zanskar hasn’t announced all of the sites.
“It costs a lot of money to drill these wells just to see if it’s hot or not,” said Lindsey. “And so if we find tools where we don’t have to drill to find these sites, or to help us refine where we’re drilling so that our drilling is more successful – then that’s a game changer.”
Zanskar said it has found that method.
AI helps to create multiple probabilistic models of potential geothermal sites – models that Zanskar says are more commercially friendly than the industry standard of a single deterministic model.
Big Blind, which was founded using the probabilistic method, could potentially be one of the state’s largest geothermal sites. according to Zanskar.
“One hundred megawatts is definitely on the table,” said Edwards. “I wouldn’t call it the best case; I call it the upside case.”
McGinness Hills in Lander County is the state’s largest site in terms of power production. It has the capacity to constantly supply 150 megawatts.
Lindsey from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, which is part of the University of Nevada Reno, expressed some pride that Edwards, an university alum, had gone on to push the boundaries of the industry. “It’s advancing geothermal, and we’re proud of them.”
Edwards, for his part, expressed similar pride in paying back for the University of Nevada Reno’s education. “It’s cool to see some of those resources coming back to Nevada.”
While Big Blind and Zanskar’s other site discoveries still require development, Edwards is looking to the next issue in geothermals. The U.S., he said, is behind other parts of the world, where geothermal energy sites are both a source for power and public good.
“In Iceland, the famous one [geothermal site] is the Blue Lagoon – it’s a major tourism attraction,” Edwards said of the country’s famous hot spring. “And it’s on the backside of a geothermal power plant.”
“In the U.S., we haven’t quite done that,” Edwards added.
The Brady Geothermal power plant outside of Reno, Nevada, was the only site he could think of in the state that used the naturally occurring heat and power source for any additional use. The site doubles to dehydrate onions for a local food processor.
