General – Carbon Free Hydrogen
Denver-based startup Koloma has raised over $90m to drill for carbon-free hydrogen that’s continuously generated underground.
If it succeeds, it could turbocharge the clean energy revolution — and potentially tap a $1 trillion market. CEO and co-founder Tom Darrah, who has filed 16 patents for finding and efficiently extracting hydrogen, is planning for a future of drilling for hydrogen just as for oil and gas.
“Koloma is drilling its first wells in the Midwest, testing rock and gas samples from them at Darrah’s Columbus lab to determine which sites have the best hydrogen volume and purity. It’s backed by Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy, Energy Impact Partners, Evōk Innovations, Prelude Ventures and Piva Capital, making it the most well-funded startup in the space by far.”
“It’s been 37 years since a subterranean coal fire forced Tom Darrah’s family to flee their home in Centralia, Pennsylvania. Decades later, the fire that started in the Kennedy era still burns underground through fractured coal seams, spewing carbon dioxide and toxic hydrogen sulfide, turning Centralia into a ghost town. It’s one of the longest-running environmental disasters in U.S. history.”
