Iceland review - 2013, Qupperneq 84

82 ICELAND REVIEW
as no account was taken of global warming
when the river Jökulsá á Dal was diverted
into Lagarfljót. The course of the river was
subsequently altered. As a consequence, the
salmon population in Lagarfljót has virtually
disappeared and the trout population has
been reduced by 80 percent.
thE nExt StEP
In January this year, the Master Plan for
Hydro and Geothermal Energy Resources
finally became law. Work on the plan, which
was supposed to evaluate the advantages and
disadvantages of 63 potential power plants in
terms of environmental impact, sustainability
and feasibility, had originally started in 1999.
The power plants were placed into three
categories: utilization, protection, or pending
more research.
After the plan had been agreed in the
Icelandic parliament, Alþingi, the utilization
category consisted of two hydro plants and
14 geothermal stations; although Iceland’s
new government has now shuffled the plan
somewhat and moved four hydro and two
geothermal plants into the utilization cat-
egory. The change conforms to the conclu-
sions of the group of experts who originally
classified each of the plants.
The geothermal plants in the utiliza-
tion category include three close to the
Hellisheiði plant and several in the Reykjanes
area. In light of new information about the
capacity of geothermal areas to support large
geothermal stations, should there perhaps be
a rethink on the future of Iceland’s energy
and how it’s harnessed?
“The Hellisheiði power plant was much
too big for one stage. To maintain its power
to the full, one maintenance borehole must
be drilled each year. It’s by no means certain
that more boreholes in the current produc-
tion area will yield results. More experience
is needed to predict that. On the other
hand, nearby production areas could help,
e.g. Hverahlíð and Gráuhnúkar,” Sveinbjörn
replies.
Both of these sites are classified as exploit-
able in the master plan.
Sveinbjörn says that geothermal experts
have recommended that geothermal plants
don’t exceed 90 MW in the initial stage in
each area, and that development is needed in
many areas at the same time if more than 100
MW is needed. The Hellisheiði plant, how-
ever, was 120 MW in its initial stage.
How does he envisage the next step,
especially if energy has to be found for the
Century Aluminum smelter in Helguvík on
Reykjanes peninsula? “The demands of the
aluminum companies for 700 MW are much
too large for geothermal power plans. They
can easily provide 90 MW, though, and with
more together perhaps 300 MW. But for a
large aluminum plant, both hydropower and
geothermal power must be used to reach 700
MW. Environmental problems due to hydro-
gen sulfide, together with increased earth-
quakes near the Hellisheiði plant as a result
of the reinjection of steam, have aroused
questions that need to be answered before
geothermal energy is utilized to a greater
extent,” Sveinbjörn concludes. 

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