SLC-based Zanskar Geothermal & Minerals has Raised $30 Million in New Funding to Accelerate its Efforts to Uncover Likely Productive Geothermal Sites in the U.S.

Zanskar's primary focus is developing more solutions to quickly, less expensively, and more accurately identify underground locations highly suited for the extraction of geothermal energy that can then be converted on-site into electricity.

Based upon success in convincing some of the world's leading "Green" investors and a number of federal government agencies, partners, and the U.S. Department of Defense, all indications are that Zanskar is on the right track.

Salt Lake City, Utah-based Zanskar Geothermal & Minerals has closed a $30 million B Round of funding.

In total, Zanskar has now raised over $42 million in venture funding, supplemented by at least $2 million in additional grant funding provided by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

According to the Zanskar news release, Obvious Ventures led this latest funding, with participation from such previous investors as Munich RE Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Safar Partners, and First Star Ventures, as well as newcomer Clearvision Ventures.

As noted in the news release, Zanskar plans to

"... deploy the funds to accelerate technology development and advance its portfolio of greenfield power projects to serve new partnerships."

The Story Behind Zanskar

According to the company "Manifesto," it was during the summer of 2009 on a river-rafting trip on a turquoise blue waterway in the Zanskar mountain region of India where two Brigham Young University undergrads — Carl Hoiland and Joel Edwards — met for the first time.

As now Dr. Hoiland wrote in that Manifesto in August 2022,

"... over a decade later, we would launch a company named after the region.

"In the intervening years we each had the privilege to work with some of the best geothermal and exploration researchers in the world, to watch and to participate in the development of new technologies that would improve geothermal exploration."

Here's why I believe the experience and growing expertise of these two Co-Founders — Dr. Hoiland (CEO) and Dr. Edwards (Chief Technology Officer) — matter so much when it comes to carbon-free, renewable energy, both in the United States and around the world:

For all the excitement, and hype, surrounding such non-carbon-based, alternative energy resources as solar power and wind power, they both face obvious challenges.

Specifically,

• The wind doesn't blow all the time,
• The sun doesn't shine at night, and
• Only a fraction of the sun's rays actually reach the surface of the earth, depending upon such factors as
  — Cloud cover, and
  — The latitude of certain locations on the planet at certain times of year.

Conversely, National Geographic reports that the center of the earth is "... a hot dense ball of (mostly) iron ..." that measures roughly 1,500 miles in diameter and has a temperature of over 9,300° Fahrenheit.

It is this core, the magma above it, and the tectonic plates that float on top of both, that lead to such obvious "hot" geothermal manifestations as volcanoes, geysers, hot springs, and other geological disturbances, most of which occur at or near fault zones/lines where earthquakes have occurred or do occur.

With this understanding in hand, many enterprising individuals and organizations have attempted to discover likely locations of geothermal activity, with some finding success, but many (unfortunately) coming up empty.

Interestingly, over the past 40—50 years, various scientific tools have been invented that allow geologists to better gather and decipher underground data, including current and historical seismic events, the presence/absence of radioisotopes, and the ability to map the chronology of subsurface geothermal temperatures.

As I understand it (and I do not claim to be a geologist), Zanskar has developed (and hopes to perfect) a number of Artificial Intelligence tools, coupled with its proprietary Large Language Model (LLM) datasets, that allow it to leverage existing scientific technologies to produce more and more accurate predictions of where geothermal sites with the highest energy-producing potential, and lowest costs to extract, lie underground.

In fact, it is Zanskar's initial success that has led some of the leading alternative energy investors on the planet to place bets on the firm and its approach to geothermal site research and discovery, including

• Obvious Ventures,
• Munich RE Ventures,
• Union Square Ventures,
• Lowercarbon Capital,
• Safar Partners, and
• Clearvision Ventures,

to name a few.

Additionally, Zanskar has already partnered with such governmental entities, and partners, as

• The U.S. Department of Defense,
• The U.S. Air Force,
• The U.S. Army,
• The Defense Innovation Unit of the DOD,
• Mountain Home Air Force Base (in Mountain Home, Idaho),
• Fort Irwin, U.S. Army (located in the High Mojave Desert in California),
• The SBA (as noted above),
• The State of Utah,
• Stanford University and the State of Alaska,

among others.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

In my opinion, news of this funding, coupled with

• The ongoing R&D and production efforts of Zanskar and other Utah-based organizations, as well as the
• Unique geological features found within Utah, and
• Its forward-thinking (and doing) people

place Utah squarely at the cutting-edge of alternative energy R&D and creations.

To this I add,

"Kudos, Team Zanskar!

And to all other Utahns and Utah organizations fighting the same fight and helping lead the way to clean energy independence, I tip my hat and say

"Hurrah!"

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