Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.08.2012, Page 48

At the seashore the giant lobster makes
appointments with mermaids and landlubbers.
He waves his large claws, attracting those desiring
to be in the company of starfish and lumpfish.
> Only 45 minutes drive from Reykjavík
Eyrarbraut 3, 825 Stokkseyri, Iceland · Tel. +354 483 1550
Fax. +354 483 1545 · info@fjorubordid.is · www.fjorubordid.is
by the sea
and a delicious lobster
at Fjörubordid in Stokkseyri
Reykjavík
Stokkseyri
Eyrarbakki - The Seashore restaurant
Sp
ör
e
hf
.
Summer opening hours: Mon - Sun 12:00 to 22:00
To get there, I head southeast towards
Hveragerði across vast lava fields of the
Reykjanes Peninsula with Helgi Péturs-
son, one of the owners of Orkusýn, a
company that shows visitors around the
plants. On the way, he tells me about
the use of geothermal energy in Iceland.
“93% of the island’s houses are heated
with geothermal energy compared to 7%
in the rest of Europe, which is by far the
most extensive geothermal space heat-
ing in the world,” he says, explaining that
this can be attributed to the island’s fa-
vourable conditions.
Specifically, Iceland sits on the Mid-
Atlantic ridge, where the North Ameri-
can and European tectonic plates are
actively moving away from each other
at a velocity of two centimetres per year.
Cold rainwater seeps into the earth's
surface, where it is heated by magma in-
trusions. The geothermal plants use the
steam from this hot water, transforming
its energy into electricity.
DEVELOPING GEOTHERMAL
The idea of developing geothermal heat
as a source of energy can be traced
back to the early twentieth century, Hel-
gi tells me. Experimental drilling started
at Nesjavellir in 1965, but it was only in
the 1980s that the final decision to build
an electric power plant was made.
Geothermal energy has thus enabled
people to live here more comfortably
and partly explains why people stayed
on this “godforsaken piece of land in the
middle of the North Atlantic,” as Helgi
calls it.
As we reach the top of a small moun-
tain in the Hengill area, huge steam
clouds rise over the grey sky, indicating
the presence of the boreholes used to
extract the steam from the ground. The
fifty holes are 3,000 metres deep, where
the water is at a constant temperature
of 320 degrees Celsius. Here, the noise
produced by the enormous force of na-
ture is deafening, requiring the three
people that work there to wear ear pro-
tection. The ground water comes up as
steam and starts its journey through the
power plant. The destination is Reykjavík
via a one metre wide pipe, and its first
stop is Perlan, the biggest pumping sta-
tion on the island.
After this brief stop, we get back in
the car and head to the visitor’s centre
situated adjacent to the power plant.
This futuristic looking building with its
pointy roof was designed by architect
Stefan Ivon Silica and is meant to rep-
resent the diverging tectonic plates. In-
side, placards detail the function of the
geothermal plants through informative
graphs as well as general information
about geothermal energy.
PREACHING TO THE WORLD
As the country with the highest energy
consumption per capita in the world,
Iceland is very much expected to make
the most of its renewable energy. Al-
ready Helgi says that geothermal en-
ergy has saved Iceland 4 million tonnes
of CO2 emissions a year. “But it is also
trying to send a message to other coun-
tries,” Helgi tells me. “We are trying to
preach the geothermal gospel to the rest
of the world. Scientists from all over the
world come to see this and take home
what they see.”
Other countries are indeed inter-
ested in Iceland's geothermal energy.
The United Kingdom's Energy Minister
Charles Hendry, for instance, has re-
cently suggested building an underwater
cable to carry low carbon energy from
Iceland to the UK to provide electricity.
Whether this is feasible is debated, but
Helgi is convinced that it is possible, giv-
ing him hope that the geothermal gospel
is starting to be heard and he is sure that
we will see a huge leap in this kind of
energy, as we have to be increasingly
aware of our environment.
Words
Sarah Pepin
Photo
Sarah Pepin
In Iceland you’re made aware of the earth under your feet pretty much everywhere you
go. You sense that it is very much alive, continuously breathing, releasing energy. This
is especially evident in the Hengill area, where two of Iceland’s six existing geothermal
plants, Hellisheiði and Nesjavellir, are located just a half-hour drive from Reykjavík.
If you’re interested in exactly how geothermal energy works, your next stop
should be the Hengill area and its visitor’s centre. More information can be
found at www.or.is
48 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 12 — 2012TRAVEL
Preaching The Geothermal Gospel:
An Excursion To Hellisheiði