Iceland review - 2014, Síða 108

106 ICELAND REVIEW
Powering the Future
– Achieving Power
Security
We believe powering the future is all about
enabling our customers to achieve power
security. Obtaining power security is one
of the chief objectives in communities globally today
and is certainly essential for power intensive indus-
tries. We offer power security to power intensive
industries in terms of physical power security, price
security and carbon security.
Iceland is the world’s only country to produce
virtually all its electricity from renewable sources,
falling water and the heat of the earth. With a
production five times what’s needed for local con-
sumption, energy is one of the country’s most valu-
able resources. Landsvirkjun, the National Power
Company of Iceland, generates over 70 percent of
this energy, primarily from hydroelectric sources.
Market leaders in power-intensive industries con-
tinue to expand their investments and operations
in Iceland due to the competitive power prices, the
unrivaled security of supply and the careful consid-
eration of environmental factors. With its valuable
access to natural resources and renewable energy,
solid infrastructure and a young skilled population,
Iceland is an attractive option to consider.
Iceland today hosts Europe’s second largest
production of primary aluminum, one of the world’s
most power intensive industries, as well as sig-
nificant production of ferrosilicon, aluminum foils
and data center services. Landsvirkjun operates 14
hydropower stations, two geothermal stations and
onshore wind mills in five areas of operation around
the country. The operation is based on an integrated
approach where prudence, reliability and harmony
with the environment and society are fundamental
in making us a choice partner for power intensive
industries and services.
a ProPoSition of real value
Landsvirkjun’s main message to prospective cus-
tomers has been the availability of power contracts
that place particular emphasis on the following
aspects:
u the most competitive energy prices in europe
u 100 percent renewable energy
u reliable long-term energy contracts
The company offers 12-year contracts for renewable
electricity at the most competitive headline power
prices in Europe: USd 43/MWh with opportunities
for discounts and term adjustments in the case of
greenfield investments. In comparison, the aver-
age market price of electricity (2010-2013) was
USd 66/MWh in the Netherlands, USd 57/MWh
in Scandinavia and USd 59/MWh in Germany.
Recently, the World Economic Forum (WEF) rated
the security of supply in Iceland as the second most
reliable in the world.
froM kilotonS to teraByteS
Iceland’s infrastructure is well suited to support
datacenters, with its fully redundant dual optical data
transmission pathways to Europe and a backup
connection to North America, its reliable power
transmission system built to support power intensive
international aluminum smelters, and its ample sup-
ply of suitable land space offering year-round sav-
ings in cooling costs due to the temperate climate.
Iceland offers an attractive geographical location
between North American and European markets
and a highly skilled international ICT workforce.
Division of electricity sales
(MWh)

38%

9%

4
%

1
3%
DIVISION OF ELECTRICITY SALES (MWh)
Alcoa Rio Tinto Alcan Nordural Elkem
Becromal General market Verne Holdings (<1%)
Geothermal Metal Recycling (<1%)
24%
12%