Icelandic Adventures

Hello everyone! I've been pretty busy but I've got a spare moment since I'm waiting to meet a contact of mine with the economic department at the embassy. Here's a recap of what I've been up to.

Monday (May 17)
My first meeting with Dr. Fridleifsson, a scientist with HS Orka, the largest private energy production company in Iceland, came to pick me up at my hostel at 8:30 am. He drove me around to the Reykjanes and Svartsengi power plants and all around the geothermal fields there. I got to see the pipelines, the generators, a bunch of wells and reinjection wells, a lot of sights along the way. We talked a lot about how Iceland's geothermal industry developed and how it has become such an integral part of Iceland's energy economy. He took me to the Blue Lagoon, which is more or less a spa that uses the (get this) waste water from the Svartsengi plant! It's brine water that would otherwise need to be reinjected or evaporated. The water is considered to have healing properties for skin diseases like psoriasis.

We talked a lot about Iceland's unique geography, and how that has allowed the geothermal industry to develop so well. In particular, the lava rock formations are key. Not only does the porous rock allow for ideal flow rates during fluid extraction, but they also provide a great natural reservoir for storage. Iceland has an immense supply of clean natural water that rests above the hydrothermal fluids used in geothermal heating and power generation. Similar to Hawaii, the water is filtered through the volcanic rocks so it is some of the cleanest and purest water in the world.

What is particularly awesome about Iceland, or maybe just HS Orka, I'm not really sure, is that they are committed to extracting every last bit of use out of the resources they have. Most of the geothermal plants are CHP plants, which allows the water and steam extracted to be used for not only domestic space and water heating, but also for electricity generation as well. In addition, the Svartsengi plant recycles some of the affluent brine water with the Blue Lagoon (and an entire industry has popped up around it--a clinic, a research facility, and entire cosmetic line has formed around the affluent brine water!). AND, as if they couldn't be any more awesome, Dr. Fridleifsson explained that HS Orka's philosophy is to find ways to get even more out of it. For example, at the Reykjanes plant, which is the only plant that uses cold sea water in the heat exchange process, a lot of heated affluent water is released back to the ocean to be reused in the process. That heated water could be used for algae cultivation, which could then be used for both biofuels and as a food supply for the fish farm industry that has developed. (oh, and as another tangent, while visiting the Reykjanes wells, there was a strong fishy smell around. That's because the fish farms use geothermal water and steam for drying cod heads, which they then ship to Nigeria!). AND there is a lot of experimenting going on to capture CO2 that is released (which is only part of the natural biological cycle and doesn't contribute to anthropogenic emission calcuations), and then converting it to methanol, an alternative transportation fuel. 100% of Iceland's stationary energy is renewable and 82% of all primary energy is renewable. Essentially, Iceland is really awesome when it comes to energy.

Dr. Fridleifsson was so nice and even treated me to lunch! The "national dish," which is a hot dog, coke, and chocolate wafer for dessert. The hot dog has fried onions, ketchup, mustard, and some type of mayonaise sauce. It was very good and I have since seen little stands all over the place. As if he weren't nice enough, he even took me to his home to meet his wife and youngest son. I ate dinner with them and stayed to watch the news. HS Orka was very recently (like in the last two days) bought by a Canadian company, Magma Energy. Although Magma energy already controlled a large portion of the company's shares, it now controls something like 98% of the shares. There was a special on the news about the reaction to this, which has been largely negative. Foreign control of an energy company, despite the fact that the company only has utilization rights and does not actually own the resource, has been met with a lot of skepticism. It'll be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out.

Tuesday (May 18)
I met with Mr. Ketilsson, who works for Orkustofnun, the National Energy Authority of Iceland. This organization was formed by the government back in the 60's to handle licensing and monitoring of energy resources. It was a very interesting interview. One of the most interesting things I picked up is that geothermal heating is so cheap in Iceland, that people who don't have access to it and have to use oil for heating are actually subsidized by the government! Oil is way more expensive than geothermal here!

We also discussed the recent legislation that changed the structure of the energy industry here. Originally, there wasn't much regulation of the energy industry. But in accordance with an EEA policy, Iceland quite recently instituted a policy that accounting for heating and power generation must be kept separately. In addition, the production and distribution aspect of both electricity and hot water were separated. We also talked a bit about the licensing process and some of the legislation dictating environmental and management regulations.

After my meeting, I ventured into the city center for a few hours. I walked around a bit and ended up going to the Reykjavik Museum of Photography, which was really just a gallery above the library. After wandering for a few hours I made my way back to the hostel and, utterly exhausted, called it an early night.

Wednesday (May 19)
With no interviews scheduled, yesterday was my day for some sightseeing. I went back to the city center and walked up to the Hallgrimskirkja church, which sits on top of a hill in the city. It was beautiful! I paid the 500 kronur to take the lift up to the top floor, where there is a little lookout. You could see the entire city. It was a gorgeous view and since it was still pretty early, it was nice to the city before it started bustling. After the church I stopped off at a little cafe to reenergize and get out of the cold for a bit. I walked down Skolavordustigur, an avenue with a lot of little workshops, back to the main street. I walked down to a big lake and park area which is right near the current Reykjavik city hall. Did a bit of sight seeing along the way. Then went to the National Museum where I luckily received free admittance (since it was a Wednesday). It was really interesting! Iceland has a pretty rich history. Some fun facts: Iceland established a parliamenty in 930 at Thingvellir, and it lasted almost until the 1800s when it started being shuffled around between the Nordic and Danish crowns. It conducted the first ever national census in 1703. And it was one of the few places in the world that experienced a relatively peaceful transition to Christianity.

Wednesday night was spent corresponding with contacts in Germany and France and trying to iron out a few things. Some exciting news: I will now officially be going to Pisa, Italy for three days to attend a conference hosted by the European Geothermal Energy Council. I go there shortly after I arrive in Berlin and then return to Berlin to finish up my interviews there. It should be an incredible opportunity to get a wider EU-based perspective on geothermal, and almost an entire day of the conference is dedicated specifically to EGS development in europe.

Thursday (May 20)
Its around 1:00 pm now, and my contact at the embassy will be picking me up at around 2:30 to talk about Iceland's energy policy. This morning has been spent skyping, doing some readings, checking out my financial situation, and reviewing the information I've received so far. I think that things have been going quite well generally. It's been very interesting to observe a place where renewable energy is the best possible thing for economic stimulation, not a threat to it, and where public acceptance and support for geothermal technology is overwhelming positive.

Well I'm off to do a few last minute preparations for my meeting today. Hope everyone is doing well!