In 2025, a US startup used ‘underground lightning’ to crack rock and unlock hydrogen

A worker prepares the well on a Boston-area horse farm to lower Eden’s electrode (Image Credit: Bob O’Connor via IEE Spectrum) 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? That is the idea being explored by Massachusetts-based startup Eden 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. The unusual approach, sometimes compared to creating tiny lightning strikes underground, could potentially open a new route for producing geologic 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.Turning rocks into hydrogen factoriesHydrogen is widely considered an important potential clean-energy fuel because, when used i...