Iceland experiences moderately cool summers, and often bone-chilling winters. Reykjavik (the capital city of Iceland) draws heating from the country''s enormous geothermal energy potential. This is true for the rest of the country, as well.
Situated directly on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Iceland is one of the most geothermally active locations in the world. Geothermal energy is a low-carbon heating and energy solution; a readily available sustainable energy solution for Reykjavik.
As a result, Iceland is home to underground rivers of magma, which result in hot water and steam under the extreme-weather-prone surface of the Icelandic countryside.
Iceland''s largest geothermal combined heat and power plant, Hellsheidi Geothermal Power Plant, and a handful of other large geothermal plants, provide district heating, electricity, and hot water to Reykjavik and much of the rest of the country.
The abundance of renewable energy in Iceland, namely geothermal energy and hydroelectricity, helps to make Reykjavik a renewable energy-based city. The large supply of readily available geothermal and hydroelectric energy allows most buildings in Reykjavik to get hot water, just like with heating, pumped straight from city pipes.
The people and government have transformed Iceland into one of the leading countries in geothermal power, as well as the global leader in geothermal district heating.
An infant version of district heating using local geothermal heat as the sole energy source was implemented in Reykjavik nearly 100 years ago. The capital Reykjavik kicked things off in 1930 by heating a small elementary school, the national hospital, and 60 residences in the city.
Due to the success of these early efforts, the City of Reykjavik continued to work on evolving this technology. Reykjavik now provides geothermal district heating to about 90% of buildings in the city.
Outside of Reykjavik, the use of geothermal district heating in Iceland is widespread. Around 90% of the heating and hot water in the country is made possible with geothermal district heating.
While energy from hydroelectricity provides the majority of electricity for the country (about 73%) geothermal energy is the second largest energy source for Iceland (about 27%). Geothermal energy is the main source of heating and hot water for the entire country (about 90%). The rest of the heating for Iceland''s building is provided by electricity sourced from hydroelectric and geothermal energy.
In fact, thermal springs with naturally hot water, and geysers with hot water and steam, are so abundant in Reykjavik, that naturally-occurring hot water and steam are even piped and released under city streets to heat the street. This naturally occurring geothermal hot water keeps roads free of ice and snow.
The Germans might have branded and brought the term Energiewende into the global vocabulary. But when Iceland started, nobody was thinking about it. The energy transition from carbon based fuels to renewables began over 100 years ago. It started off slowly with hydro powering just the lights but fully took off when Ljósafoss power plant began producing power for the city of Reykjavik in 1937. The plant made it possible for homes to stop relying on burning coal for cooking and at the same time, geothermal began to replace heating in the capital.
Ljósafoss plant was first of three stations that utilise power from the river Sog. The plant was designed by architect Sigurður Guðmundsson in Funkis style which is a unique Nordic flavor of Functionalism and features decorations by sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson. The Ljósafoss plant hosts an interactive exhibition. The exhibition emphasises on play and experience where the nature and characteristics of electricity are shown in multiple forms and guests are led through the world of electricity in new and creative ways
At CHARGE last year, Hörður Arnarson – CEO of Landsvirkjun, went over the company''s history and its role in Iceland''s 100% renewable electricity and how the company has been repositioning itself over the years.
Editor’s note: this article originally appeared on the Charging the Energy Brand blog at https://blog anding.energy/the-source-of-the-icelandic-energy-transition-from-carbon-to-100-renewable/
REGENERATION Series: Electrify Everything December 11,2024December 11 @ 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm UTC-5
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