Utah Company Discovers Geothermal Energy Underneath Nevada Desert. It Could Provide 24/7 Clean Power
Beneath the ground we walk lies a hidden and reliable source of energy. Because it doesn’t rely on sunlight or wind, geothermal power plants have a high-capacity factor, often 90% or more, as per the U.S. Department of Energy. Recently, a Utah-based energy company has discovered a “blind geothermal” system, the first one to be a commercial prospect in over 30 years. Located in the desert of Nevada, the energy source may be used to power nearby cities or data centers in the future. Nobody expected to find geothermal energy in the southwest’s desert, something that's common near geysers or volcanoes. Experts were taken aback by the "blind" source of geothermal energy but were simultaneously invigorated thinking about its potential uses.
Salt Lake City-based energy company Zanskar has named the geothermal energy source in Nevada the "Big Blind," and it's a “base-load” source of energy that can deliver power consistently and around the clock. “If we can get geothermal energy to make up a significant portion of the western U.S. power supply, then yes, I see this impacting customers by providing that baseload source of energy,” said Aubry DeReuil, Zanskar’s Director of Exploration, as per Nevada Public Radio. Although it's not a never-before-seen source of energy, the Big Blind has tapped into an area beneath the Earth that's a powerhouse of geothermal energy. Most notably, this area was never associated with this type of energy source before, making this discovery unique and remarkable.
Zanskar had revealed that it found an "approximately 250°F [121°C] permeable reservoir at roughly 2,700 feet depth." According to the company, this discovery will allow large energy consumers, governments, and utilities to drop clean geothermal energy at large scale. “Geothermal energy–we can find it using predictable methods, it can be profitable, and it can be massively scalable if we put the energy into exploring and developing it,” DeReuil added. She explained that with geothermal systems, the heat is inherent, and efforts are only needed in pulling the heat to the surface. "And then you put it back into the system. So this is a 'closed loop' system. So there’s very little waste and the heat is naturally occurring,” she added.
DeReuil believes that all different sources of energy should work together to meet the growing power needs of the United States. “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.
Joel Edwards, co-founder and CTO at Zanskar, believes that natural geothermal systems are often overlooked because they are either ‘too difficult to find' or ‘too sparse to matter.’ However, the Big Blind has become a shining example of what drilling for geothermal sources could bring to the table. “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," Edwards added.
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