Startup Uses Subterranean Electrical Pulses to Stimulate Hydrogen Production

In a field test on a horse farm outside Boston, Eden GeoPower lowered two large electrodes into boreholes hundreds of meters deep and fired high-voltage pulses between them. Each discharge acts like a miniature subterranean lightning strike, heating the rock and building pressure until it fractures into a spiderweb of cracks. The Massachusetts-based startup calls the technology electrical reservoir stimulation and hopes it can be used for mineral mining, geothermal energy, carbon storage, and hydrogen production.

The hydrogen concept, known as stimulated or engineered geologic hydrogen, involves injecting water into iron-rich rock formations. The water oxidizes the iron, releasing hydrogen gas as a byproduct. Eden's fracturing method creates the permeable pathways needed for water to reach those minerals. Unlike hydraulic fracturing, which uses high-pressure fluids and can cause earthquakes or groundwater contamination, electrical stimulation aims to produce more extensive, finely controlled fracture networks with less environmental risk.

Global hydrogen demand reached approximately 100 million tonnes in 2024, but most is produced from methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Zero-carbon hydrogen made via renewable-powered electrolysis remains expensive. While companies have searched for natural underground hydrogen deposits, none have yet proven commercially viable at scale. Stimulated hydrogen only requires iron-rich rocks, which are abundant, potentially unlocking vast energy resources if the technology works.

The approach gained institutional support in 2024 when the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) awarded $20 million to 16 teams researching stimulation technologies. Eden received $900,000 for its electricity-based approach. Former ARPA-E program director Douglas Wicks estimated that if the U.S. achieves just 1 percent success with stimulated hydrogen, it could power the economy for thousands of years at costs competitive with methane-derived hydrogen.

Eden CEO Paris Smalls founded the company in 2017 based on his MIT Ph.D. research into electricity's effects on rock strength. Initially targeting enhanced geothermal systems, Smalls turned to pulsed power after steady DC current failed to fracture hard rocks effectively. The pulsed-power concept traces back to 1950s Soviet research by physicist Lev Yutkin, who discovered that high-voltage pulses in water create plasma channels and shock waves capable of shattering solid objects.

Eden's first pilot in an Oman oil field used DC power and increased oil production by 30 percent in soft carbonate rock, but struggled with hard rock. The team then developed a pulsed-power system. Geomicrobiologist Alexis Templeton, who joined Eden as lead geochemist from 2023 to 2025, recognized the technology could solve the key challenge of delivering water to iron-bearing minerals in tight formations.

The field test near Boston represents a step toward validating the method in the hard, crystalline rocks typical of hydrogen and geothermal targets. Researchers measure fluid pressure downhole and flow rates at the surface to assess fracture permeability. Proponents acknowledge success is a significant "if," but say stimulated geologic hydrogen could provide nearly unlimited clean energy if the technology proves effective at scale.