Salt Lake City’s Zanskar Expands its "Financial Stack" as it Closes a $40 Million Geothermal Development Facility, one Designed to Scale to up to $100 Million

With $185 million in venture funding raised previously, this new financing marks a shift in how Zanskar's geothermal projects are financed and advanced

28 April 2026 — Salt Lake City-based Zanskar has closed a $40 million Development Capital Facility, a form of structured debt that is designed to scale to up to $100 million, as needed by the company.

According to a review of the Zanskar news release, these new monies expand the company's Financial Stack above and beyond the $185 million in venture capital funding it has previously raised. As such, this funding introduces a new layer of capital into its geothermal development strategy and signals a broader shift in how geothermal projects are financed and advanced.

As stated in the company announcement:

“Zanskar has successfully transitioned from a pure geothermal explorer and operator to pioneering the financial infrastructure the entire industry needs to scale," said Carl Hoiland, CEO and Co-founder of Zanskar. "This facility unlocks the critical bottleneck of early-stage project financing.”

Just Climate and Spring Lane Capital co-led the financing, which is structured as a non-recourse, revolving development credit facility designed to fund pre-construction activities and bridge projects toward traditional project financing.

That distinction is the story for Utah Money Watch readers who are not financial industry professionals as this is not a conventional funding round.

And it's not $100 million sitting on Zanskar's balance sheet either.

Rather, Zanskar has now secured $40 million of committed development capital; additionally, it has the ability to scale the facility to $100 million as its project portfolio advances and financing conditions are met.

At its core, the facility is a form of structured debt that functions more like a project-level line of credit than a traditional loan. As such, it allows Zanskar to draw capital as it advances geothermal projects rather than taking all the money upfront by selling equity in the company.

The Missing Middle in Geothermal Finance

The geothermal energy world has long faced a capital formation gap.

At one end, venture and growth equity have supported early-stage companies and exploration platforms. At the other, large-scale project financings support proven, construction-ready assets.

Unfortunately, between those two endpoints sits a more difficult phase, a phase where projects must be validated, permitted, and de-risked before they can attract infrastructure-scale capital.

That figurative middle phase has historically been undercapitalized.

As such, this debt facility is designed to allow Zanskar to address that gap.

Following the announcement of its $115 million Series C earlier this year (which was led by Spring Lane Capital), Zanskar now has a combination of equity capital and structured development capital, monies that give the company a more complete financing toolkit to move projects toward bankability.

Up until now, Zanskar has been primarily funded through equity capital, but this facility expands that as it introduces non-dilutive, structured development capital into the company’s financing mix.

This change moves Zanskar one step closer to the kind of capital stack that other large-scale and established energy players are already utilizing at scale.

In this regard, this news marks a clear progression in how Zanskar is now approaching project development and capital formation.

Utah Ground Position: Iron County Exploration

To be clear, the Utah connection is not limited to its Salt Lake-City-based headquarters.

Public records show Zanskar holds an exploration agreement with the Utah Trust Lands Administration that covers ~2,556 acres in the Escalante Desert region near Zane in western Iron County.

The agreement provides a multi-year exploration window with the option to convert into a geothermal lease if the resource proves viable.

At this stage, Zanskar activity in the state appears to be focused on exploration and pre-development Iron County, including geologic analysis, thermal-gradient drilling, permitting and resource validation.

And to date, Zanskar has not publicly disclosed results from such Utah-targeted geothermal activities.

Nevertheless, the positioning matters.

Why? Because Zanskar now has both access to Utah geothermal acreage and a development capital facility designed to fund early-stage project work, creating optionality for where capital can be deployed as projects mature.

The Utah-focused efforts are in addition to the company's existing research, development, and energy production efforts in other western states, such as Nevada, New Mexico, and California.

A Utah-Centered Capital Signal

the bottom line is that Utah’s geothermal story continues to evolve.

Utah FORGE, led by the University of Utah, anchors research and technical advancement. 

Operation Gigawatt signals state-level support for firm, reliable energy.

Companies such asTexas-based Fervo Energy have demonstrated the ability to attract large-scale capital tied, much of it tied to geothermal research, development, and production in the state of Utah.

Now, Zanskar has added an additional monetary layer.

I believe it matters that a Utah-headquartered geothermal-focused leader is pairing structured development capital with early-stage land positions, including efforts in Utah, while building toward a more complete geothermal development model.

That is a different signal.

In this regard, Zanskar's new financial resource suggests Utah is not just a place where geothermal is studied or permitted, but a place where new capital approaches to geothermal research, development, and energy production are beginning to take shape.

Utah's Emerging Geothermal Development Stack

From my perspective, the bottom line is this:

Zanskar is assembling what can be described as a geothermal development stack, one with

• AI-enabled exploration capability,
• Institutional equity capital,
• Non-dilutive development financing, and
• Early-stage land position, including in Utah

Each of these components exists elsewhere in the market, yet only a handful of firms have assembled them into a single platform.

Will this $40 million automatically turn into $100 million? Not necessarily.

From my perspective, however, Zanskar is assembling the kind of capital stack and project pipeline that gives it a legitimate shot at accessing the remaining $60 million as its portfolio advances.

What This Signals

This $40 million to $100 million in available capital for Zanskar does not guarantee project success, nor does it eliminate development risk.

It also doesn't mean Utah will be the primary destination for this capital.

But it does signal something more structural.

A Utah-based company is now aligning capital, land access, AI-powered research, and development capability in a sector that is increasingly viewed as critical to delivering sustainable, clean energy.

In other words, when you follow the money, the direction becomes more clear.

Publisher's Note

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