Energy in Iceland

Iceland is the greatest proportional producer of renewable energy and is at the forefront of research for renewable, and clean energies. 70% of Iceland's primary energy comes from renewable energy sources with the rest coming from imported oil and coal. Iceland supplies 99.9% of their electricity via renewable sources. Most of their electricity come from two sources, hydroelectric and geothermal power, with 81% coming from hydroelectric power and the remaining coming from geothermal sources. Geothermal sources are also used to heat 89% of the households in Iceland, with the remaining being heated with electricity. The use of renewable energy is very important to Iceland’s government because they have transformed Iceland from an environment highly polluted by coal to one of the cleanest in the world. The country plans to become the first hydrogen society in the world, with all of their private automobiles, fishing boats, and public transportation running on Hydrogen. This would make Iceland the first completely energy-independent country in the world and they would have no dependence on fossil fuels.

Geology

Iceland's unique geology is what allows Iceland to produce renewable energy. Iceland is located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which makes it one of the most tectonically active places in the world. There are over 200 volcanoes located in Iceland and over 600 hot springs. There are over 20 high-temperature steam fields, meaning they reach a temperature of at least 150 degrees Celsius with many of them reaching temperatures of 250 degrees Celsius. This is what allows Iceland to harness geothermal energy and these steam fields are used for everything from heating houses to heating swimming pools. The Hydropower is harnessed through glacial rivers and waterfalls, which are both plentiful in Iceland.

Hydropower

The first hydropower plant was built in 1904 by a local entrepreneur. It was located in a small town outside of Reykjavík and produced 9 kW of power. The first municipal hydroelectric plant was built in 1921, and it could produce 1 MW of power. This plant single handedly quadrupled the amount of electricity in the country. The 1950s marked the next evolution in hydroelectric plants. Two plants were built on the Sog River, one in 1953 which produced 31 MW, and the other in 1959 which produced 26.4 MW. These two plants were the first built for industrial purposes and they were co-owned by the Icelandic government. This process continued in 1965 when the national power company, Landsvirkjun, was founded. It was owned by both the Icelandic government and the municipality of Reykjavík. In 1969 they built a 210 MW plant on the Þjórsá River that would supply the southeastern area of Iceland with electricity and run an aluminum smelting plant that could produce 33,000 tons of aluminum a year.

This trend continued and increases in the production of hydroelectric power are directly related to industrial development. In 2005, Landsvirkjun produced 7,143 GWh of electricity and 6,676 GWh, 93% was produced via hydroelectric power plants. Of this 7,143 GWh and 5,193 GWh,72% was used for power intensive industries like aluminum smelting. Currently, Iceland is going through its biggest hydroelectric project to date. They are creating a hydroelectric plant that will have a capacity of 690 MW and will be created along with another aluminum smelter. This is the Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Project and it is very controversial among environmentalists.

Iceland is the first country in the world to create an economy generated through industries fueled by renewable energies.

Geothermal power

See also: Geothermal power in Iceland

For centuries, the people of Iceland have used their hot springs for bathing and washing clothes. The first use of geothermal energy for heating did not come until 1907 when a farmer ran a concrete pipe from a hot spring that led steam into his house. In 1930, the first pipeline was constructed in Reykjavík, and was used to heat two schools, 60 homes, and the main hospital. It was a 3 km pipeline that ran from one of the hot springs outside the city. In 1943, the first district heating company was started with the use of geothermal power. An 18 km pipeline ran through the city of Reykjavík and by 1945 it was connected to over 2,850 homes.

Currently geothermal power heats 89% of the houses in Iceland and over 54% of the primary energy used in Iceland comes from geothermal sources. Geothermal power is used for many things in Iceland. 57.4% of the energy is used for space heat, 15.9% is used for electricity, and the remaining amount is used in many miscellaneous areas like swimming pools, fish farms, and greenhouses (2005)

The government of Iceland has played a major role in the advancement of geothermal energy in Iceland. In the 1940’s, The State Electricity Authority was started by the government in order to increase the knowledge of geothermal resources and the utilization of geothermal power in Iceland. It was later changed to the Nation Energy Authority in 1967. This agency has been very successful in Iceland and has made it economically viable to use geothermal energy as a source for heating in many different areas throughout the country. Geothermal power has been so successful that the government no longer has to lead the research in this field because it has been taken over by the geothermal industries.

The move from oil-based heating to geothermal heating has saved the country a lot of money and has been a lot more environmentally friendly. It is estimated that the total savings between geothermal heating compared to the cost of importing oil for heating from 1970 to 2000 is $8,200,000,000. The equivalent amount of oil that would have been needed in 2003 to heat Iceland’s homes was 646,000 tons of oil. This lowered the release of carbon dioxide emissions in Iceland by 37%.

Hydrogen

Iceland currently uses imported oil in order to fulfil the rest of their energy needs. This is very costly to the country and it has caused Iceland to focus on domestic, renewable energies. Bragi Arnason, a local Icelandic professor, first proposed the idea of using hydrogen as a fuel source in Iceland during the 1970’s, which is also when the oil crisis occurred. At that point in time this idea was considered ludicrous but in 1999 Icelandic New Energy was established to govern the project of transitioning Iceland into the first hydrogen society by 2050.

The first step towards becoming a hydrogen society was the ECTOS project, started in 2001. This project was a four year demonstration from 2001 to 2005 involving three hydrogen fuel cell buses and one fuel station. There are many international companies contributing to this project including, Daimler Chrysler, who made the hydrogen fuel cell buses, and Shell produced the hydrogen fuel station. The European Commission 5th framework programme sponsored the project.

The first hydrogen fuelling station in the world opened in 2003 at Reykjavic, Iceland. Everything is created onsite in order to avoid difficult issues with transporting hydrogen. The hydrogen is produced using electrolysis to take the hydrogen out of water. All of the energy used to form the hydrogen comes from Iceland’s renewable energies and the full cycle of energy, from the water to the hydrogen in the fuel cells emits no CO₂ and is completely renewable.

During the project the researchers were studying the efficiency of using hydrogen as a fuel source. They were also looking at the reliability of the fuel and how well it worked in the buses as a fuel source. They were also studying the cost effectiveness of using hydrogen as a fuel source and how the process of implementing hydrogen into the country would be. They looked at specific areas like the ease incorporating fuel stations and producing hydrogen, and the safety precautions involved with distributing and using hydrogen, a very explosive fuel.

The project came to an end in August 2005 and it was a huge success. It was followed up by a project called the Hyfleet Cute who continued to run the three buses. This project is studying the long term effects of using the buses and it is looking at the most efficient ways to use them. They are running the busses more this time around and they are comparing the durability of the fuel cell to the combustion engine which can theoretically last a lot longer. They are also studying the fuel efficiency of the buses and new buses are being made overseas that are supposed to be more fuel efficient. This is a very new technology and these are some of the first automobiles produced and they can most likely be improved in the future.

See also

• Economy of Iceland

External links

• Kárahnjúkar hydropower project
• Orkustofnun - Icelandic National Energy Authority

References

• 19th World Energy Congress. Sustainable Generation and Utilization of Energy The Case of Iceland. Sydney: 2004.
• Bardadottir, Helga. Energy in Iceland. Reykjavik: Hja Godjon O, 2004.
• Bjornsson, Sveinbjorn. Geothermal Development ane Research in Iceland. Ed. Helga Bardadottir. Reykjavik: Gudjon O, 2006.
• Electricity Production Landsvirkjun, 2005. 19 Apr, 2007
• "Icelandic New Energy." 2 May 2007. 2 May 2007.

<http://www.ectos.is/newenergy/en/>

• "Statistics Iceland." 30 April 2007. 2 May 2007.

<http://www.statice.is/?PageID=583>