# Carl Hoiland

> Carl Hoiland is the co-founder and CEO of Zanskar, the Salt Lake City company using AI foundation models to find hidden geothermal reservoirs across the American West. A Stanford-trained exploration geologist whose grandfather prospected for uranium and gold, Hoiland built Zanskar on a contrarian bet: that the United States has overlooked geothermal potential by an order of magnitude, possibly a full terawatt of clean baseload power waiting underground with no hot springs or geysers to mark it. In 2025 his team confirmed 'Big Blind,' the first commercially viable blind geothermal system discovered by industry in over 30 years, and in January 2026 Zanskar raised a $115 million Series C to start building power plants.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Zanskar
- **Organizations:** Zanskar Geothermal & Minerals, Inc., Stanford University (alumnus), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (former Activate Fellow)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Ph.D., Geological Sciences (tectonics, structural geology, geochronology), Stanford University, School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, NSF GRFP GROW visiting researcher, Stockholm University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Zanskar, the largest AI-native geothermal exploration company in the US, Discovered 'Big Blind' in western Nevada - the first commercially confirmed blind geothermal system found by industry in over 30 years, Three AI-driven geothermal discoveries within a single year

## Career timeline

- **Stanford years** — NSF Graduate Research Fellow studying tectonics of the Cordillera; fault-hosted geothermal systems via low-temperature thermochronology
- **Post-PhD** — Activate Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- **2019** — Co-founded Zanskar with Joel Edwards (CTO); named after the Zanskar range in the Himalayas
- **2022** — Zanskar announced $12M Series A funding
- **2024** — Zanskar raised ~$30M Series B
- **2025-05** — Tripled production at the flagging Lightning Dock power plant, New Mexico
- **2025** — Validated AI-based discovery with drilling at Pumpernickel site, Nevada (~280F at ~2,500 ft)
- **2025-12** — Revealed 'Big Blind' - first commercial blind geothermal system found by US industry in 30+ years
- **2026-01** — Raised $115M Series C led by Spring Lane Capital; total equity funding reaches ~$180M

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Zanskar, the largest AI-native geothermal exploration company in the US
- Discovered 'Big Blind' in western Nevada - the first commercially confirmed blind geothermal system found by industry in over 30 years
- Three AI-driven geothermal discoveries within a single year
- Tripled output at the Lightning Dock geothermal plant in New Mexico (2025)
- Raised a $115M Series C in January 2026, bringing total equity funding to roughly $180M
- Stanford Ph.D. and NSF Graduate Research Fellow; former Activate Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — Zanskar raised a $115M Series C led by Spring Lane Capital to scale its discovery platform and begin building geothermal power plants.
- **2025-12** — Announced 'Big Blind,' the first commercially viable blind geothermal system discovered by US industry in over 30 years.

## Links

- Website: https://zanskar.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlhoiland/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/geologycarl

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/carl-hoiland
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-14