www.sfgate.com
August 30, 2009
Hellisheidi, Iceland - - Steam thunders out of the black volcanic earth, screaming into the chill winter sky from a truck-size metal vent with the intensity of a jet engine at takeoff. A few hundred yards to the west, Iceland is being torn apart as the European and North American plates pull away from one another, drawing magma (molten rock) toward the nation's thin crust, building its mountains, and heating groundwater into steam.
In between, at the foot of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge - the longest mountain range in the world that rises from a tectonic boundary on the Atlantic seafloor - stands Iceland's newest geothermal power station. It's a chic edifice of glass and steel that attracts tens of thousands of visitors a year who come to see how Icelanders heat and power their nation largely without the use of fossil fuels.
"Most of the interest in geothermal has been sparked not by environmental considerations, but by oil prices," said Eirikur Hjalmarsson of Reykjavik Energy, the public utility that owns the plant. "We went from 95% of our energy coming from fossil fuels in the middle of the last century to about 20% today."
Fifty-mile-deep wells or boreholes have been drilled into these ancient lava fields east of the capital, Reykjavik, tapping enormous quantities of steam that are piped into the plant and forced through turbines to generate 213 MWs of power, enough to power 175,000 typical U.S, homes. After passing through turbines, the steam is harnessed to provide heat to Reykjavik's homes and businesses, fill its steam baths and heat its swimming pools, and even keep streets and sidewalks warm and ice-free through the sub-Arctic winter.
Even though Iceland's financial sector collapsed last fall, it has found creative ways to use sustainable geothermal power. And many of its innovations may be coming to Northern California and other geothermal-rich regions seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on oil, coal, and natural gas.
In Hveragerdi, 6 miles from Reykjavik, geothermal energy is used to heat rows of greenhouses. In the dead of winter, the shadows of banana trees can be seen against the frost-covered glass walls. In the far north, hot water from geothermal plants is used to farm fish at the edge of the Arctic Circle.
On another ancient lava field 40 miles southeast of here, tourists relax in the hot mineral-laden water of the Blue Lagoon, the country's most famous tourist site and the healthful effluent of the Svartsengi geothermal plant. Here at Hellisheidi, after the steam has been used by a tissue manufacturer and a pharmaceutical firm (which harvests enzymes from heat-loving microbes), the leftover hot water "waste" is pumped back into the ground, to be reheated by the magma.
"Icelanders approach geothermal the way the Indians approached the buffalo: They use every bit of it," said Tal Finney of Iceland America Energy, based in Los Angeles, which aims to bring Icelandic know-how to California's extensive geothermal resources. "America can truly benefit from what Icelanders have learned."
Northern California is home to the largest complex of geothermal power plants on Earth: 22 plants at The Geysers, 72 miles north of San Francisco, which generate 725 MWs. The United States remains the largest geothermal electricity producer, and California accounts for more than 85% of installed capacity, although few plants have been built in the past 30 years or utilize the resource as completely as Iceland does. But that may soon change.
The Geothermal Energy Association in Washington, D.C, estimates that geothermal projects now in development will increase U.S, production by more than 50% once they are completed in the next several years. In California, three new power plants are under way around the Salton Sea in Imperial County. And Iceland America Energy - a firm partly owned by Reykjavik Energy - is conducting a feasibility study to create a district heating plant in the resort town of Mammoth Lakes, 275 miles east of San Francisco.
"The whole western U.S, has a large geothermal potential," said Alexander Richter, a sustainable energy expert at Glitnir, an Icelandic bank that invested in geothermal technology until the financial crash. "This is an industry where Icelanders have advantages in knowledge and experience that can be used abroad."
Finney noted that his Icelandic colleagues have a leg up in negotiating with municipalities and other stakeholders, skills that are essential to building a district heating plant. "In Iceland they're used to doing everything by consensus," he said. "The want to succeed and have a bottom line, but they want to do it in such a way that allows them flexibility in working with communities. There's a whole bunch of low-hanging fruit waiting to be exploited in California." Reykjavik Energy sees such opportunities worldwide.
China already has centralized municipal heating networks, making it relatively easy to swap existing coal-fired plants for geothermal ones in places with the right underground resources. In Africa, people lack adequate supplies of electricity and drinking water: Geothermal plants can provide both.
Distilled water, too
"Instead of combined heat and power plants, you can have water and power plants, because distillation of water is an integral part of the process," said Hjalmarsson.
Iceland's government is committed to taking matters much further, eliminating fossil fuels altogether by midcentury to become the world's first hydrogen-based economy. The idea: to convert all the country's gas vehicles to hydrogen fuel-cells, which will be charged using electricity from geothermal and hydro plants.
"When the Vikings came here they were using only renewables - sun, wind, and some wood," said Bragi Arnason, the University of Iceland professor who came up with the plan in the 1970s. "We imported the first pieces of coal in the 18th century, and the first drops of oil in the 19th and soon all the energy consumed in Iceland came from imported fossil fuels. We are building the infrastructure that will let us again produce all of our energy from domestic, renewable sources." The project is still in its early stages.
Hydrogen fuel
The world's first commercial hydrogen fueling station opened in Reykjavik in 2003, and now serves a fleet of 14 hydrogen cars. Three hydrogen-powered buses ran on the streets of the capital for four years without problems, and a fuel-cell-equipped whale-watching boat operates from the harbor.
Iceland's financial crisis, however, has delayed plans to build 15 more filling stations to give nationwide coverage and the global recession has pushed back foreign automakers' delivery of commercial fuel-cell vehicles.
"The crisis in the auto industry is more serious than expected, so new car types will be delayed like everything else," said Jon Bjorn Skulason, general manager of Icelandic New Energy, the organization charged with managing the experiment. "They key issue for us is that other governments take the same attitudes, because we can never do this alone."
Iceland says no to fossil fuels
Iceland, a Kentucky-size country of 320,000 inhabitants with no domestic coal, oil or gas, receives virtually all of its electricity and home heating from geothermal and hydroelectric plants. Only 20% of the nation's energy comes from fossil fuels, which are typically used to power vehicles and ships.
Steam vents and geysers - the latter an Icelandic word - are a common sight in a country with 20 active volcanoes. Huge quantities of water pour down from the sky or from ice caps that cover a tenth of the country. Much of central Reykjavik, the capital, is dotted with stainless steel huts that cover geothermal bore holes that the state power utility company holds in reserve.
Iceland's cheap, clean energy also supports its extensive aluminum industry, whose smelters require enormous quantities of electricity. This process, which effectively exports renewable energy by converting it into metals, is controversial among some environmentalists since the smelters produce greenhouse gases and other pollutants.
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