Zanskar is using AI to get more out of existing geothermal hot spots

In the nationwide treasure hunt to secure more geothermal power, some developers have pivoted from siphoning energy out of traditional geothermal wells to creating geothermal wells in parts of the country where they exist deeper under the surface. But where other developers zig, Zanskar zags.

The Utah-based geothermal developer uses AI to discover overlooked energy in geothermal wells that were previously thought to be tapped out, and thus far the company’s found success. Earlier this year, Zanskar announced it had used its AI models and new drilling techniques to harvest more power from a geothermal field in New Mexico that had been abandoned by the rest of the industry. In an interview with Tech Brew, co-founder and CTO Joel Edwards said Zanskar’s AI models have found more conventional geothermal hotspots in three years than the entire industry has been able to in the last three decades.

Edwards said the company predicts where geothermal resources are located and teams go out to test the areas for underground heat. Data pertaining to the area—whether it’s a hotspot or not—is then fed into an AI model, alongside datasets on rock types, fault lines, and the planet’s gravitational field. Eventually, the model creates a digital twin of earth’s geothermal system, learns how to identify geothermal characteristics, and can understand layers of physical data that can be tough for humans to grok.

“Our regional models are now better than humans,” Edwards told us. “Our models are now predicting where the hotspots are, and our field teams are out testing those predictions.”

And that tipping point, when the AI became better than humans at predicting where geothermal resources are located, happened in the last year, Zanskar co-founder and CEO Carl Hoiland told Tech Brew.

Because Zanskar is focused on traditional geothermal wells, or hot springs, the developer’s focus is in the western US. Hoiland said the magnitude of energy Zanskar will be able to access will mean the market will move “demand to where the cheap energy is, rather than the other way around.”

“As these sites get bigger, you can just bring a data center to that site,” Hoiland said. “Conventional [geothermal] should not be overlooked. There’s enough there to meet all of the future growth in energy demand.”