What if the rocks beneath our feet could one day be turned into a giant hydrogen factory, not by drilling up an existing fuel reserve, but by sending controlled bursts of electricity deep underground?
uncertain
rocks → turn → electricity
That is the idea being explored by Massachusetts-based startup Eden GeoPower.
asserted
That → explore → GeoPower
The company is using powerful high-voltage electrical pulses to fracture hard, tightly packed rock and create pathways that could allow water to reach minerals capable of naturally producing hydrogen through chemical reactions.
uncertain
water → use → reactions
The unusual approach, sometimes compared to creating tiny lightning strikes underground, could potentially open a new route for producing geologic hydrogen.
uncertain
approach → compare → hydrogen
IEEE Spectrum, the technology and engineering publication of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), reported the development, describing the company’s underground electrical fracturing technology and its potential application to stimulated geologic hydrogen.
asserted
Spectrum → report → hydrogen
Turning rocks into hydrogen factories
Hydrogen is widely considered an important potential clean-energy fuel because, when used in a fuel cell, it produces water and heat rather than carbon dioxide.
asserted
it → turn → dioxide
But producing hydrogen cleanly remains expensive.
asserted
producing → produce → hydrogen
Most of the world's hydrogen is still made using fossil fuels, particularly natural gas, while cleaner methods such as electrolysis require substantial amounts of electricity.
asserted
methods → make → electricity
That has encouraged researchers to look underground for another possibility: geologic hydrogen.
asserted
That → encourage → possibility
Earth can naturally produce hydrogen through water-rock reactions involving certain iron-rich minerals.
asserted
Earth → produce → minerals
During these chemical reactions, iron is oxidised and hydrogen can be released as a by-product.
asserted
hydrogen → oxidise → product
In some locations, the gas can accumulate underground, creating natural hydrogen reservoirs.
asserted
gas → accumulate → reservoirs
Instead of simply searching for naturally occurring deposits, scientists are investigating whether the process can be deliberately stimulated.
asserted
process → search → deposits
This emerging approach is known as stimulated geologic hydrogen or engineered hydrogen.
asserted
approach → emerge → hydrogen
The basic concept is relatively simple: find suitable iron-rich rocks, introduce water and create enough pathways for the water to reach the minerals.
asserted
water → find → minerals
The resulting chemical reactions can then generate hydrogen.
asserted
reactions → result → hydrogen
The difficult part is getting the water deep into hard, tightly packed rock.
asserted
part → get → rock
This is where Eden GeoPower's technology comes in.
asserted
technology → come → ?
The company uses electrodes lowered into boreholes and sends extremely high-voltage electrical pulses between them.
asserted
company → use → them
Instead of relying primarily on enormous volumes of pressurized water, the electrical pulses create intense, localised effects inside the rock.
asserted
pulses → rely → rock
According to IEEE Spectrum, the pulses can form tiny plasma channels in moist areas between mineral grains.
uncertain
pulses → accord → grains
These channels expand extremely rapidly, producing shock waves that fracture the surrounding rock.
asserted
that → expand → rock
Repeated pulses create a network of cracks, making the previously tight rock much more permeable.
asserted
rock → create → cracks
In simple terms, Eden is trying to open up the rock from the inside.
asserted
Eden → try → inside
The company calls its system electrical reservoir stimulation.
asserted
company → call → system
Its approach was originally developed for applications such as geothermal energy, where engineers need to create pathways through hot, hard rock so fluids can circulate and carry heat back to the surface.
asserted
fluids → develop → surface
The same principle could potentially be used for hydrogen production.
uncertain
principle → use → production
A 10-fold increase in permeability
Eden's technology has already moved beyond small laboratory samples.
asserted
technology → move → samples
In 2025, the company tested its pulsed-power system in an abandoned gold-and-silver mine in Colorado.
asserted
company → test → Colorado
Using a device called Thor, Eden fractured a hard igneous-rock column and increased its permeability by 10 times, as per IEEE Spectrum.
asserted
Eden → use → Spectrum
That result is important because permeability determines how easily fluids can move through rock.
asserted
fluids → determine → rock
A highly impermeable formation may contain the right minerals for hydrogen production but still be practically inaccessible to water.
uncertain
formation → contain → water
By creating fractures, Eden hopes to make more of the rock's mineral surface available for reactions.
asserted
more → create → reactions
The company's equipment uses Marx generators, which charge multiple capacitors and then rapidly discharge them to create extremely short, high-voltage pulses.
asserted
which → use → pulses
Eden has built two custom systems, named Zeus and Thor, capable of producing surges of several hundred kilovolts.
asserted
Eden → build → kilovolts
Why the horse farm matters
The next stage is happening in Massachusetts.
asserted
stage → matter → Massachusetts
Eden began setting up a field-testing site at a horse farm in March 2026.
asserted
Eden → begin → March
Actual fracturing operations began in June after delays caused by weather, equipment issues and other logistical challenges.
asserted
operations → begin → weather
The location gives the company an opportunity to study how its electrical fracturing system performs in a real underground environment rather than only in laboratory samples or a mine.
asserted
system → give → samples
Two electrodes can be positioned at similar depths in separate boreholes.
asserted
electrodes → position → boreholes
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
