ICELAND GEOSURVEY

Geothermal projects in IcelandGeothermal projects in Iceland

Ólafur G. FlóvenzGeneral director of ISOR

Presentation at “Geothermal Energy - Benefits and Potential”

an event in Brussels on February 1st 2008 during

European Union Sustainable Energy Week

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The internal heat of the Earth

The heat comes from from decay of radioactive material.

0.1% of the energy that is stored in Earth’s crust could satisfy the world energy consumption for 10.000 years.

> 5000 °C

> 3000 °C

> 1000 °C

~ 30 °C/km

ICELAND GEOSURVEY

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EJ per year

50276

1575

640

5000

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

Worldwide technical potential of renewable energy sources (EJ per year)

World Energy Assessment 2000

Hydro-power

Biomass Solarenergy

Windenergy

Geothermalenergy

The heat stored in the Earth´s crust

The geothermal energy resource is huge

but we have technical problems to harness it.

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Renewable energy – Electricity 2005

Production TWh %

Hydro 2837 89.0

Biomass 183 5.7

Wind 106 3.3

Geothermal 57 1.8

Solar 5 0.2

Tidal <2 <0.1

Source: WEC 2007 Survey of Energy Resources, 427-437. World Energy Council  2007 (www.worldenergy.org)

Key question

How can we extract and utilize the geothermal heat for sustainable energy production with low environmental impact?

ICELAND GEOSURVEYwww.isor.isPhoto: Anette K. Mortensen

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Some concepts of geothermal energy

Three main types of geothermal fields for electricity production:

– High temperature fields

– Medium temperature fields

– Low temperature fields

We distinguish between:

– Conventional geothermal systems

– Unconventional geothermal systems

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High temperature fields

– 200 – 350°C

– Depth: 1 – 3 km

– Related to volcanism and plate boundaries

– Suitible for electricity production with conventional turbines

Nesjavellir, Iceland. 300°C fluid used to produce electricity

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Medium temperature fields

– 120-200°C

– 1 – 5 km

– Mostly found in deep sedimentary basins around the world as well as in volcanic areas

– High flowrates necessary for electricity

– Binary systems needed for electricity production

Húsavík, Iceland. 124°C water used to produce electricity

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Low temperature fields

– Below 100 °C

– At 1 – 3 km depth

– Mostly found in sedimentary basins and fracture zones around the world

– Suitible for space heating, balneology, fish farming etc.

Photo: Sigurdur Sveinn Jónsson

www.isor.isHOT ROCK

COLD ROCK

Power PlantMarket

Borhole

Fluid recharge

Permeable fractures

Conventional geothermal system

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Almost all geothermal power plants in the world today are conventional

Photo: Ingavar Birgir Friðleifsson

Olkaria, Kenya

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Unconventional geothermal fields are of two main types:

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS)

Supercritical Geothermal Systems (SGS)

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Artificially enhanced permeability

HOT ROCK

COLD ROCK

Production well

Power PlantMarket

Enhanced geothermal system (EGS)

Injection well

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Primary energy consumption in Iceland 1940-2006

ICELAND GEOSURVEYSource: Orkustofnun

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Energy sources used for space heating 1970-2005

ICELAND GEOSURVEYSource: Orkustofnun

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Icel

and

Fin

lan

d

No

rway

Sw

eden

Den

mar

k

Source: Samorka, Iceland

Cost of house heating in the Nordic countries

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From fossil fuel to geothermal:The environmental benefit

Before geothermal space heating: Reykjavik in 1933 covered with smoke from coal heatings,

With geothermal space heating: Reykjavik in 2008, almost same view but without visible air pollution

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Geothermal fields and installed power in geothermal plants

120 MW120 MW

76 MW

60 MW

3 MW

2 MW+ 400 MW 2015

+ 200 MW before 2015 ?

+ 400 MW before 2015

100 MW

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The magic Icelandic progress

– Favourable, but not unique geological conditions.

– High public acceptance.

– Political willingness:

• Good regulatory and legal framework.• Strong initial governmental support for research,

capacity building and risk sharing funds.

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Favourable geological conditions

• Intersection of a hot spot and a oceanic Ridge.

• Repeated magmatic intrusions keeps the crust warm.

• Seismic activity opens pathways for fluid to extract the heat.

Hot spot

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The geothermal potential in Iceland

– The generating capacity from known high temperatrue fields is of the order of 25 TWh/y assuming heat extraction to 3 km depth.

– In addition there are 1,50x1021 J stored energy above 200°C between 3 and 5 km in the volcanic zone in extensional environment. Converting only 1% of this energy to electricity could yield additional 40 TWh/y for 100 years.

– To-day the generating capacity in Iceland is 480MWe. The total potential is unknown, but might be as a high as 8000 MWe , depending on the technical progress in the near future.

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www.isor.isPhoto:GOF-9. March 2001, 11:35:48

Public acceptance: The Blue Lagoon

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Volcanism and earthquakes are important natural resources!

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Are the mid-oceanic ridges the future energy resource?

– About 600 km of the axis of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge are in Icelandic waters.

– Very high temperatures at shallow depths below the ocean bottom.

– Could we develop methods to produce 30.000 MW of electricity from oceanic ridges in the future?

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The Icelandic geothermal experience shows that

– Geothermal energy can be produced in a sustainable and feasible way with low environmental impact.

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Photo: Emil Thor

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To increase the world wide share of geothermal electricity production we need:

– Strong support for research, especially for unconventional geothermal resources.

– Support action to implement geothermal plants in the developing countries.

– Education and dissemination of geothermal know-how.

– Favourable legal and regulatory framework.

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ICELAND GEOSURVEYwww.isor.isPhoto: Gudmundur Steingrímsson

Thank you for your attention