I & I - 2011, Blaðsíða 28

28 I&I
Graena orkan (‘The Green Energy’) is
a cluster project at the Ministry of In-
dustry aiming at increasing the share of
eco-friendly domestic energy resources in
transport in Iceland at the cost of imported
fossil fuels. Its ambitious goals includes
connecting the many companies involved
in the alternative fuel sector in Iceland and
making the country a leader in the use of
alternative energy resources for transport.
While some of those involved have com-
plained that things aren’t happening quick-
ly enough, the ministry has promised to
prioritize the project this coming winter.
This spring it was announced that Amer-
ican AMP Electric Vehicles (AMP EV) had
teamed up with Iceland’s Northern Lights
Energy (NLE) on marketing electric SUVs
in Iceland. “We have 50 Icelandic compa-
nies and government offices, including
the Ministry for the Environment, signed
up to host electric vehicle charging and to
convert their fleets to 100 percent electric
vehicles and their expectations are high. In
my opinion, this AMP EV will meet and ex-
ceed all expectations,” said Gísli Gíslason,
chairman and CEO of NLE, in a statement.
At the same time, Icelandic fuel compa-
ny N1 announced that it had invested tens
of ISK millions in the experimental cultiva-
tion of rapeseed, which has been ongoing
for three years. CEO of N1 Hermann Gud-
mundsson told Fréttabladid that studies
indicate rapeseed cultivation is feasible
all around the country but the Eyjafjör-
dur region (in the north) and South Ice-
land showed the best results. It is believed
possible to grow 15,000-20,000 tons of
rapeseed in Iceland annually. A few days
earlier, farmer Ólafur Eggertsson at Thor-
valdseyri in South Iceland, a pioneer in
rapeseed cultivation, handed over 500 li-
ters of oil which he pressed from rapeseed
in the autumn of 2010 for experimental
fuel production at the biodiesel company
Lífdísill. He considered the event a mile-
stone. “This is the first time that a farmer
has transported oil from the countryside
to the town to have it changed into fuel
for diesel engines.”
Meanwhile, as reported in Fréttabladid
in July, the number of methane-run ve-
hicles in Iceland had doubled in the past
18 months, now approaching 600. Einar
Vilhjálmsson, marketing director of meth-
ane company Metan, pointed out that the
interest in using methane instead of fossil
fuels is steadily increasing in the country;
a recent survey by Capacent concluded
that 85 percent of respondents are inter-
ested in methane. The first power plant
in Iceland which will use biological waste
to produce methane is scheduled to open
by the end of next year. The pork producer
Stjörnugrís and energy company Metanor-
ka are planning to use waste from Stjörnu-
grís’s pork farm at Melar in Melasveit, West
Iceland, to produce methane which could
power up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a hydro-
gen car was tried out in Iceland in August.
As for other developments, Landsvirkjun,
the national power company, and Icelandic-
American Carbon Recycling International
(CRI), are studying the possibility of build-
ing a renewable methanol plant next to the
geothermal power plant at Krafla in North-
east Iceland. At full capacity, the methanol
plant would produce more than 100 million
liters annually of renewable methanol, a
clean burning high octane fuel for cars, us-
ing only carbon dioxide (CO2), water and
renewable energy from the Krafla plant.
The process would eliminate 45,000 tons
of CO2 emissions per year. CRI has already
completed the construction of its first re-
newable methanol plant—the first of its
kind in the world—at Svartsengi in South-
west Iceland in cooperation with HS Orka.
The plant will start production in the fall of
2011.
By Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir.
mAinstreAming
ALternAtive energy
We’re not there yet, but methanol, methane, rapeseed oil, hydrogen and
green electricity might soon replace fossil fuels in Iceland for good.
A rapeseed field. Photo by Helgi Bjarnason / Mbl.