Geothermal Energy
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When your entire country and population sits on scores of life-threatening volcanos, you make energy.
This afternoon we visited Orka Natturunnar aka ON Energy, a geothermal plant producing electricity, hot water and home heating for the greater Reykjavik area.
99% of Reykjavik home space heating is provided by pipelines of hot water directly produced by geothermal sources. We've seen miles of 20-30in diameter pipes running along streets and highways serving areas as far as 70km away from these plants. The electric power is distributed by power lines covering 100s of km.
As rain and snowmelt percolates down from the surface, it is naturally heated by the hot magma below. By drilling boreholes as little as 1000m, deep the plant can access steam and water up to 300 degrees C to run turbines generating electric power.
This plant can produce over 300 megawatts of power from its 7 turbines, as well as 200 degree C domestic water that reaches the city at 80 C. Iceland is exploring undersea lines that could deliver electric power to mainland Europe.
This afternoon we visited Orka Natturunnar aka ON Energy, a geothermal plant producing electricity, hot water and home heating for the greater Reykjavik area.
99% of Reykjavik home space heating is provided by pipelines of hot water directly produced by geothermal sources. We've seen miles of 20-30in diameter pipes running along streets and highways serving areas as far as 70km away from these plants. The electric power is distributed by power lines covering 100s of km.
As rain and snowmelt percolates down from the surface, it is naturally heated by the hot magma below. By drilling boreholes as little as 1000m, deep the plant can access steam and water up to 300 degrees C to run turbines generating electric power.
This plant can produce over 300 megawatts of power from its 7 turbines, as well as 200 degree C domestic water that reaches the city at 80 C. Iceland is exploring undersea lines that could deliver electric power to mainland Europe.
We're at a fascinating point where alternatives to fossil fuel power generation are being proven effective and becoming economically viable. Solar in many places, wind/wave energy capture in others, geothermal here. Still, the appeal of co-existing long-term with underground magma is hard for me to grasp.
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