Voltage line communications during pulse power drilling

A system comprising:

• a pulse power drilling assembly configured to pulse power drill a borehole formed in a subsurface formation, wherein the pulse power drill assembly comprises,
• a capacitive element;
• a generator electrically coupled to the capacitive element through a voltage line, wherein the generator is to generate a voltage that is to be transmitted through the voltage line to charge the capacitive element for a first charge cycle;
• a drill bit having an electrode that is electrically coupled with the capacitive element;
• a pulse power controller to control the electrode to perform a process to emit of an electrical discharge from the electrode into the subsurface formation to pulse power drill the borehole;
• a processor;
• and
• a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by the processor to cause the processor to,
• detect, by the pulse power controller, a drop in the voltage on the voltage line that is in response to emission of the electrical discharge;
• transmit, by the pulse power controller, a communication via the voltage line after a time delay;
• decode, by the generator, the communication based on the time delay;
• and
• modify, by the generator, a parameter of pulse power drilling of the borehole based on the decoded communication.

A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a computing device to:

• monitor a voltage on a voltage line that is electrically coupled to a generator of a drilling assembly and a capacitive element of the drilling assembly, wherein the generator is to charge the capacitive element based on application of the voltage to the voltage line, wherein the drilling assembly is to perform pulse power drilling of a borehole into a subsurface formation by a process to emit an electrical discharge into the subsurface formation based on power stored in the capacitive element;
• detect, by a pulse power controller of the drilling assembly, a drop in the voltage on the voltage line that is in response to an emission of the electrical discharge;
• transmit, by the pulse power controller, a communication via the voltage line after a time delay;
• decode, by the generator, the communication based on the time delay;
• and
• modify, by the generator, a parameter of the pulse power drilling based on the decoded communication.