Iceland review - 2013, Qupperneq 74

72 ICELAND REVIEW
Located in one of the most vol-
canically active places on earth,
Iceland has an abundance of
hot springs which have been used for bath-
ing and other domestic activities through-
out the centuries.
The first steps to modern usage in Iceland
were taken in 1908 when farmer Stefán B.
Jónsson connected a pipe from a hot spring
to this house in Mosfellsbær, just north of
the capital, providing a steady supply of
heat.
With the help of geothermal energy,
Iceland—one of the poorest countries in
Europe in the early part of the 20th centu-
ry—was gradually transformed into a mod-
ern economy. The importance of a cheap
and domestic energy source for Iceland’s
future became clear during the oil crisis
of 1973 and production was subsequently
stepped up.
Today, more than 90 percent of houses in
Iceland are heated with geothermal energy
and 25 percent of the nation’s electricity
is also produced through the resource (the
remainder through hydropower), the high-
est proportion of any country in the world.
Apart from space heating and electricity,
geothermal is also used in the country’s
swimming pools, fish farms and green-
houses.
PIoNeerINg BegINNINgS
As a result of these early developments
and continued emphasis on research and
innovation, Iceland has long been consid-
ered a pioneer in the field of geothermal
energy. Over the years, Iceland has also been
involved in bringing the latest in geothermal
technology to the world including through
the government’s increasing emphasis on
the energy source as a priority area in
the country’s Strategy for Development
Cooperation.
The United Nations University
geothermal Training Programme (UNU-
gTP)—the only program of its kind—was
established in Reykjavík in 1978. During
the course of the past 35 years, more
than 500 students from 53 countries across
the developing world—from Mongolia to
Mexico and Malawi—have graduated from
the six-month intensive program.
Deputy Director of the program, Lúðvík
S. georgsson, says that the objective is to
help increase the knowledge base within
geothermal power companies in developing
countries. “We want to ensure that when
students return to their home countries,
that the industry there really benefits from
the newly acquired knowledge. That’s why
it’s a requirement that applicants be employ-
ees of national companies involved in ener-
gy exploration, development and produc-
tion, so that on completion they can return
to their old jobs and share that knowledge,”
Lúðvík says, adding that the application
process is highly competitive and the train-
ing program itself rigorous, resulting in only
the best students getting accepted.
The program also holds shorter courses
in developing countries, including Kenya,
which Lúðvík says is fast becoming a hub
for geothermal in Africa. “We’re also getting
requests for courses from places like Nigeria
and Sudan, oil countries and places which
are not traditionally thought of when we
think geothermal but they too want to look
at ways to use renewable energy,” Lúðvík
adds.
Through the educational program, mil-
lions are expected to benefit from geo-
thermal technology in the coming years.
Meseret Teklemariam Zemedkhun,
Program Manager at the United Nations
Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi
and UNU-gTP Fellow, emphasizes the
importance of the program for East Africa,
where many of the students originate from.
“The program has a really good platform to
really strengthen the institutional infrastruc-
tural capacity of the region.”
In February, Pacifica F. Achieng Ogola
became the first UNU-gTP Fellow to
graduate with a PhD. She has since returned
to her position of Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) Officer at Kenya
Electricity generating Company (Kengen)
and says the knock-on effect of the program
has been substantial. “There has been a lot
of capacity transfer from the program. The
knowledge we receive from the geothermal
Training Programme is shared and helps
build capacity in the region. In fact, most
of the people who work in the industry
in the region have been trained at UNU-
gTP,” Ogola says, adding that UNU-gTP
Fellows have increasingly been taking over
the teaching of geothermal courses in Kenya
as well as consultancy projects in the region.
PoWer to tHe PeoPLe
Iceland’s cooperation within the interna-
tional geothermal sector took a new direc-
tion in November 2012, when Iceland and
the World Bank launched a geothermal
Compact Program, one of the largest ini-
tiatives so far in promoting the develop-
ment of geothermal resources in Africa.
As part of the project, Iceland through the
Icelandic Development Agency (ICEIDA),
and the Nordic Development Fund (NDF),
will co-finance a USD 13 million five-year
geothermal Exploration Project covering
feasibility assessments, surface studies to
investigate promising sites as well as capacity
building in 13 states along the East African
Rift Valley, from Djibouti in the north to
Mozambique in the south.
“It’s part of following through on Iceland’s
development policy, our commitment to
this particular sector—to assist countries
in enhancing the production of renew-
able energy—and what Iceland is doing to
contribute towards the objectives of the
UN Sustainable Energy for All framework,”
explains Davíð Bjarnason, Program Manager
at ICEIDA.
In her opening address at the Iceland
geothermal Conference held in Reykjavík
in March, World Bank Managing Director
Sri Mulyani Indrawati highlighted the sig-
ENERGY