Far beneath the Pacific, about 300 miles off the Oregon coast, a machine briefly turned the heat of a living volcano into a flicker of electricity, running for less than nine seconds. It is the kind of small, uncertain step by which humans have long tried to borrow power from the earth's own fire, and whether it becomes a lasting current or a passing spark is still unknown. The result, announced by Seattle-based Endurance Energy, comes with company-reported figures that await independent scrutiny, and it marks an early attempt to bring geothermal logic to the dark floor of the sea.
Endurance Energy Reports Brief Net-Positive Power From Undersea Volcano Heat Off Oregon
For 8.7 seconds, the machine ran on a volcano and paid its own way.
Mark
Eight point seven seconds. Why is that worth a story?
Mimi
Because the question was whether the machine could pay for its own operation at all. For those seconds it did, with a median surplus of about 2 kilowatts and a peak of 16.5.
Luke
Worth saying that those numbers are Endurance's own. There's no peer-reviewed paper behind them.
Mark
And the energy figures are narrower than they sound?
Mimi
Yes. They cover operation only, not shipping, drilling or installation.
Luke
Also, the drilled well didn't deliver. Its 260°C water flowed too weakly, so the successful run used a natural vent at about 281°C. The drilling approach isn't yet shown to work.
Mark
What ended the run?
Mimi
A battery safety system tripped on excess current. Ten minutes later a pump power cable failed on a restart attempt.
Luke
Redd says the next machine fixes both. That's his statement of intent; we don't know yet that it holds.
Mark
What about the animals around the vents?
Mimi
The company says it drilled away from chimneys and saw no notable change. Redd himself says years of continuous operation could affect habitat.
Luke
Right, and that's unestablished either way. Tonga in 2027 is a target, not a commitment.
El Pulso
- A generator on the seafloor of Axial Seamount produced a net surplus of electricity for just 8.7 seconds before a safety system cut the run.
- The first drilled well delivered water too restricted to drive the turbine, forcing the team to fall back on a natural vent near 281°C.
- Ten minutes after the shutdown, a pump power cable failed during a restart attempt, exposing the fragility of the equipment at depth.
- Environmental questions hang over the work, as microbes and tubeworms around the vents depend on the same chemistry the generator taps.
- The next 100-kilowatt Gentoo test is set for this winter, with a deeper 500-meter drill arriving next year to chase sustained power.
- Endurance is aiming for first power in Tonga by 2027, a race against time to prove the technology before its results are independently verified.
Far beneath the Pacific, about 300 miles off the Oregon coast, a machine briefly turned the heat of a living volcano into a flicker of electricity, running for less than nine seconds. It is the kind of small, uncertain step by which humans have long tried to borrow power from the earth's own fire, and whether it becomes a lasting current or a passing spark is still unknown. The result, announced by Seattle-based Endurance Energy, comes with company-reported figures that await independent scrutiny, and it marks an early attempt to bring geothermal logic to the dark floor of the sea.
On September 27, an engineering team in Seattle sent commands down a cable to a generator resting on the Pacific floor, about 480 kilometers off the Oregon coast. For 8.7 seconds, the machine ran on heat from an underwater volcano and produced more electricity than it used. The company, Endurance Energy, announced the result on October 19, calling the experiment Adélie.
The idea borrows from land-based geothermal plants, where hot water drives a turbine, but it asks whether that logic can survive on the seabed. The team first drilled a well into the floor, yet its flow was too restricted to turn the generator. They turned instead to a natural vent, where water near 281°C stays liquid under the crushing pressure, and the turbine spun to about 26,000 revolutions per minute, controlled from Seattle through an existing university cable network.
The run ended when a battery protection system tripped, and a pump cable failed during the restart attempt. The CEO, Andrew Redd, says the next machine, Gentoo, will be a 100-kilowatt upgrade meant to run longer, and a deeper drill will reach 500 meters to test whether sustained flow is possible.
The caveats remain significant. The figures leave out the energy spent on shipping and installation, come from the company alone, and have not been peer reviewed. Scientists also worry about the vent ecosystems, and Endurance says early monitoring found no notable change while it works with independent researchers. Its first commercial aim is Tonga, where it hopes to deliver power by 2027. Whether this machine can run for more than a few seconds is a question the coming winter will begin to answer.
On September 27, an engineering team in Seattle sent commands down a cable to a generator sitting on the floor of the Pacific, roughly 480 kilometers (300 miles) off the Oregon coast. For 8.7 seconds, the machine ran on heat from an underwater volcano and produced more electricity than it consumed.
The company behind it, Seattle-based Endurance Energy, announced the result in a press release on October 19. The experiment, called Adélie, took place at Axial Seamount, where hot springs emerge from the seabed about 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) below the surface. Molten rock under the volcano heats seawater that has seeped into cracks in the seafloor, and the water returns to the ocean through hydrothermal vents.
The concept borrows from geothermal plants on land, where hot water or steam drives a turbine that turns a generator, with no dependence on sun or wind. Endurance wanted to know whether the same logic could work on the seabed. Its first plan was to drill a well 16 meters (52 feet) into the ocean floor, set a pipe inside and cement it in place. That well delivered water at about 260°C (500°F), but the flow was too restricted to run the generator.
So the team connected Adélie to a nearby natural vent instead. The water feeding the successful run was about 281°C (538°F). At that depth, pressure keeps it liquid far above the 100°C (212°F) at which water boils at the surface. The turbine reached about 26,000 revolutions per minute. Control came from Seattle, over the Regional Cabled Array, an existing undersea cable network run by the University of Washington that scientists already use to monitor the volcano.
The pumps and other components needed power too. After subtracting that demand, the company reported a median surplus of about 2 kilowatts across the 8.7 seconds, peaking at 16.5 kilowatts. Seafloor vents have been tapped before: a 2016 study in Applied Energy described a Chinese device that used the temperature difference between vent water and cold seawater to produce a continuous 2.6 to 3.9 watts, enough to run a data logger and an LED lamp.
The run ended when a safety system protecting the battery from excess current tripped. About 10 minutes later, during an attempt to restart, a pump power cable failed. Endurance founder and CEO Andrew Redd told ScienceAlert that the next machine, Gentoo, a 100-kilowatt test generator that is an upgraded Adélie, deploys this winter and aims for higher power and longer runs. He said the upgrades address the battery and cable problems. A new drill arriving next year will reach 500 meters (about 1,640 feet), against 80 meters (260 feet) for the current one, and the company expects deeper wells to deliver more water flow. Redd acknowledged the team still has to achieve sustained generation from a drilled well and build equipment that works reliably for months or years.
The caveats are significant. The figures describe electricity during operation only, not the energy spent on shipping, drilling and installation. The measurements come from Endurance itself, and no peer-reviewed paper accompanies the announcement.
There are environmental questions as well. Microbes around vents live off chemicals in the water, and tubeworms and other animals depend on those microbes. Endurance says it picked a drilling site away from vent chimneys and nearby animals, and that its monitoring found no notable change in local life. More than 40 water, rock and mineral samples went to independent laboratories. Redd said larger systems running continuously for years could affect the surrounding water, biological communities and seafloor habitat, and that the company is working with independent researchers on further studies.
The commercial goal is power for customers on land. Endurance says its first project is in development in Tonga, a Pacific island nation whose grid leans heavily on imported diesel, and it is targeting first power in 2027. The coming winter's Gentoo test will show whether a seafloor generator can run for more than a few seconds.
Citas Notables
We recognize that larger systems running continuously over years could affect the surrounding water column, biological communities and seafloor habitat.— Andrew Redd, founder and CEO, Endurance Energy
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