Master Plan for Geothermal and Hydropower Development in Iceland

Abstract

Iceland is very rich in renewable energy resources in comparison to the need of the country, mainly hydro power and geothermal. Energy usage was, however, very limited through the centuries, but increased rapidly during the last century. Presently these resources supply over 80% of the country´s use of primary energy which is the world’s highest share of renewables in a national energy budget. Still, only a small fraction of these energy resources has been utilized. The Icelandic Government decided in 1997 to develop a Master Plan for all potential power projects in hydro and geothermal. All proposed projects should be evaluated and categorized on the basis of energy efficiency and economics, as well as, on the basis of the impact that the power developments would have on the environment. The work was organized by a Steering committee of 16 members and some 50 experts nominated for four working groups. The Master Plan is comparable to the planning of land use and land protection. It was not supposed to go into the details required for environmental impact assessment (EIA), but still finding those projects that are best suited for developments based on energy production, economy and protection of the nature.

It is expected that some 100 projects will be evaluated and ranked in the Master Plan. The work is divided into phases. The first phase was completed in 2003 and work on phase 2 is underway. Forty three proposed projects, 19 hydro and 24 geothermal, were evaluated and ranked during phase 1.