新创公司 Zanskar 宣称，利用人工智慧分析大量地质资料，在内华达州发现一处新的「隐伏」地热系统，可望支撑商业化发电，并称这是业界数十年来首次主动找到的此类资源。这一成果颠覆了地热长期被视为失败「坟场」的印象，显示借由更好的资料与工具，有机会系统性锁定并降低深部高温储层的风险，而不再只依赖少数露头温泉或偶然钻井。

地热发电透过地下热水产生蒸汽驱动涡轮，在地压较薄的美国西部尤其具前景，但目前地热在美国供电中占比仍不到 1%。1970 年代石油危机期间，联邦政府曾在内华达州划网密集钻探隐伏系统，之后资金转向页岩油气、水力压裂、核能与风光等技术；1980 年代以后，多数可盈利的隐伏系统是偶然发现的，直到 2018 年能源部资助的一项研究才用现代地球物理方法在内华达州验证出可发电的隐伏储层。

美国政府 2008 年评估，尚未发现的地热资源平均可提供约 30 吉瓦电力，足以供应逾 2500 万户家庭，但地质学家 Faulds 认为这个数字可能被低估一个数量级以上，实际潜力恐达数十到数百吉瓦。当前资金与媒体焦点多集中在 2023 年已为 Google 内华达资料中心供电的增强型地热系统（EGS），但这类技术需注入外部水源且可能诱发小规模地震；Zanskar 的成果则暗示，传统隐伏地热或许能以更低成本、更简单方式提供规模更大的稳定洁净基载电力。

Geothermal startup Zanskar says it has located a new commercially viable “blind” geothermal system in Nevada using AI to analyze massive geological datasets, marking what it claims is the first such industry-led discovery in decades. The find challenges geothermal’s reputation as a graveyard of failed projects and shows that with better data and tools, companies can systematically identify and de-risk deep high-temperature reservoirs instead of relying on rare surface hot springs or accidental drilling hits.

Geothermal power taps underground hot-water reservoirs to produce steam for turbines and is especially promising where Earth’s crust is thin, such as the western United States, yet today still supplies less than 1 percent of US electricity. Government-led exploration surged during the 1970s oil crisis but funding later shifted to fracking, nuclear, solar, and wind; since the 1980s most profitable blind systems have been found by chance, until a 2018 DOE-backed Nevada project demonstrated that modern geophysical targeting could locate an electricity-grade hidden reservoir.

A 2008 US government assessment estimated that undiscovered geothermal resources held a mean potential of 30 gigawatts of power—enough for more than 25 million homes—but geologist James Faulds argues this may be underestimated by well over an order of magnitude, implying tens to hundreds of gigawatts from blind systems alone. While attention and investment currently favor enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), which in 2023 began powering Google data centers in Nevada but require injected water and can trigger minor seismicity, Zanskar’s work suggests conventional blind resources could ultimately provide cheaper, simpler, and far larger baseload clean energy.