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· collected 2026-08-27 · by TOI Science Desk
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?
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rocks → turn → electricity
That is the idea being explored by Massachusetts-based startup Eden GeoPower.
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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.
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water → use → reactions
The unusual approach, sometimes compared to creating tiny lightning strikes underground, could potentially open a new route for producing geologic hydrogen.
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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.
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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.
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it → turn → dioxide
But producing hydrogen cleanly remains expensive.
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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.
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methods → make → electricity
That has encouraged researchers to look underground for another possibility: geologic hydrogen.
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That → encourage → possibility
Earth can naturally produce hydrogen through water-rock reactions involving certain iron-rich minerals.
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Earth → produce → minerals
During these chemical reactions, iron is oxidised and hydrogen can be released as a by-product.
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hydrogen → oxidise → product
In some locations, the gas can accumulate underground, creating natural hydrogen reservoirs.
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gas → accumulate → reservoirs
Instead of simply searching for naturally occurring deposits, scientists are investigating whether the process can be deliberately stimulated.
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process → search → deposits
This emerging approach is known as stimulated geologic hydrogen or engineered hydrogen.
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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.
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water → find → minerals
The resulting chemical reactions can then generate hydrogen.
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reactions → result → hydrogen
The difficult part is getting the water deep into hard, tightly packed rock.
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part → get → rock
This is where Eden GeoPower's technology comes in.
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technology → come → ?
The company uses electrodes lowered into boreholes and sends extremely high-voltage electrical pulses between them.
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company → use → them
Instead of relying primarily on enormous volumes of pressurized water, the electrical pulses create intense, localised effects inside the rock.
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pulses → rely → rock
According to IEEE Spectrum, the pulses can form tiny plasma channels in moist areas between mineral grains.
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pulses → accord → grains
These channels expand extremely rapidly, producing shock waves that fracture the surrounding rock.
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that → expand → rock
Repeated pulses create a network of cracks, making the previously tight rock much more permeable.
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rock → create → cracks
In simple terms, Eden is trying to open up the rock from the inside.
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Eden → try → inside
The company calls its system electrical reservoir stimulation.
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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.
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fluids → develop → surface
The same principle could potentially be used for hydrogen production.
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principle → use → production
A 10-fold increase in permeability
Eden's technology has already moved beyond small laboratory samples.
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technology → move → samples
In 2025, the company tested its pulsed-power system in an abandoned gold-and-silver mine in Colorado.
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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.
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Eden → use → Spectrum
That result is important because permeability determines how easily fluids can move through rock.
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fluids → determine → rock
A highly impermeable formation may contain the right minerals for hydrogen production but still be practically inaccessible to water.
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formation → contain → water
By creating fractures, Eden hopes to make more of the rock's mineral surface available for reactions.
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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.
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which → use → pulses
Eden has built two custom systems, named Zeus and Thor, capable of producing surges of several hundred kilovolts.
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Eden → build → kilovolts
Why the horse farm matters
The next stage is happening in Massachusetts.
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stage → matter → Massachusetts
Eden began setting up a field-testing site at a horse farm in March 2026.
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Eden → begin → March
Actual fracturing operations began in June after delays caused by weather, equipment issues and other logistical challenges.
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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.
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system → give → samples
Two electrodes can be positioned at similar depths in separate boreholes.
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electrodes → position → boreholes
…and 18 more, not listed.
