Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1981, Qupperneq 190

Bjömsson, Axel, Kristján Sœmundsson, Sigmundur
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SUMMARY
Exploration and exploitation of
lowtemperature geothermal fields
near Akureyri in Northern
Iceland
by Axel Björnsson
Orkustofnun — Geothermal Division,
Grensásvegur 9, Reykjavík, Iceland
Otilization of natural hot water is of the
utmost importance for the Icelandic eco-
nomy. The total energy use for space heat-
ing, obtained from geothermal water, is
equivalent to 300.000 tons of fuel per year,
which would otherwise have to be imported.
This corresponds to savings of 1.5 tons of
fuel per inhabitant per year.
Geothermal utilization usually starts with
economic evaluation of the proposed project
followed by surface exploration of the
geothermal fields, where geological,
geochemical and geophysical methods are
used. Thereafter exploration and produc-
tion wells are drilled and tested in order to
find the potential of the geothermal system.
Akureyri is the largest town in Northern
Iceland with about 12.000 inhabitants. Un-
til 1976 most of the houses were heated with
imported fuel. All attempts to find enough
natural hot water for space heating in
geothermal areas near the town had failed.
During the oil crisis in 1973 hcating cost
increased enormously and it became eco-
nomically feasible to pipe hot water over
longer distances. It was thcn decided to start
again exploration of geothermal fields near
Akureyri. New instruments and new explo-
ration techniques had been developed and
new drilling rigs had been bought which
were capable of drilling much deeper than
in the previous years. On the basis of
geological mapping and extensive Schlum-
berger resistivity measurements, performed
in the summer of 1975, three geothermal
fields in vicinity of Akureyri were selected
for exploration drilling. The first well was
drilled during the winter 1975—1976 in the
Laugaland geothermal area about 13 km
south of Akureyri. The drilling was success-
ful and the well produced initially about 80
liters per second of 95°C hot water. After
further exploration work e. g. geological,
geophysical and chemical investigations,
more drillholes were sunk in the area. About
180 liters persecond are now pumped from 6
wells which is enough for heating about 80%
of all houses in Akureyri. Considerable effort
is being put into further exploration and
drilling of geothermal areas near Akureyri
with the aim to find enough hot water for
space heating of the whole town and for
some industrial use in the future.
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