A tiny power plant notched a big win last month off the coast of Oregon: For nearly 30 seconds, it generated electricity using the heat of an underwater volcano.

The startup Endurance Energy deployed its test unit, called Adélie, about a mile below the surface of the Pacific Ocean during a three-week demonstration in September. On Monday, the Seattle-based company announced the results, which it says mark a milestone for the world’s emerging and highly uncertain efforts to develop offshore geothermal power.

“We follow the adage ​‘make it exist, then make it good,’” said Andrew Redd, founder and CEO of Endurance Energy. ​“Adélie made it exist, and now we know it’s possible.”

Redd, who is a former SpaceX engineer, launched the startup in January 2025 with the goal of scaling a clean, always-on energy source. The company has since raised $63 million from an array of venture capital firms and is partnering with the Kingdom of Tonga on a plan to deploy a 2-megawatt project that would help reduce the island nation’s reliance on imported diesel.

First, though, the Endurance team needs to ensure its technology can run for more than half a minute.

The Adélie test is perhaps the most far-flung example of the growing push to expand America’s geothermal power capacity using next-generation technologies and in less-conventional locations . While most everyone else is focused on harnessing heat terrestrially, Redd said he sees the most promise in the volcanically active regions where tectonic plates are spreading apart.

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