Renewable Energy
The Nordic island nation aims to achieve carbon neutrality before 2040 and to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030 under the Paris Agreement. Are the Nordics leading or lagging in terms of the production and consumption of clean, renewable energy sources? What can we learn from pioneering countries such as Iceland renewables when it comes to geothermal energy? And how can renewables be combined with circularity?
Photography by Matt Palmer via Unsplash
The Nordic island nation aims to achieve carbon neutrality before 2040 and to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030 under the Paris Agreement. It is a world leader in renewable energy, as almost all of Iceland’s electricity and space heating is provided by renewable sources—hydropower and geothermal energy. This constitutes over 70 per cent of all local energy consumption, while the remaining 30 per cent is provided by imported fossil fuels that are used for vehicles, vessels and some industrial processes. About 85 per cent of Iceland’s total primary energy supply is derived from domestically produced renewable energy sources. This is the highest share of renewable energy in any national total energy budget.
Iceland has a long-term energy policy entitled “A Sustainable Energy Future: An Energy Policy to the year 2050,” which represents a clear vision of the country’s sustainable energy future. It is based on the following five main pillars: energy security, energy transition, energy efficiency, environment-economy, and social aspects.
Carbon neutrality by 2040
Iceland’s future vision encompasses the need for sustainable development and the importance of energy for the lives of the entire Iceland population. It reflects the interaction between energy utilisation, environmental protection and economic development as well as the importance of these factors working together in harmony. The country’s energy policy presents a scenario for the year 2050 and describes the progress aimed for over a period of thirty years: “by 2050, fossil fuels will have been entirely replaced by renewable energy sources, while Iceland will have achieved carbon neutrality by 2040, as planned.”
Iceland’s future vision can be described as follows: “Iceland is a land of clean energy, where all energy is derived from renewable sources. Energy production from renewable sources plays a fundamental role in the battle against the climate crisis. The energy is utilised in a sustainable manner for the benefit of society and the public. All energy needs are met in a secure manner for the near and distant future. The country is a leader in sustainable energy production, energy transition, energy efficiency and efficient multiuse of energy sources. There is a general public acceptance of nature conservation and utilisation of energy sources, as environmental impact is minimised. Social benefits from energy are maximised for the good of the nation. Energy is the driving force of a diversified economy with equal countrywide access to energy at competitive prices. The country possesses advanced knowledge and vision in energy matters, resulting in robust value creation and innovation.”
“The energy policy places great emphasis on the circular economy and circular energy activities,” says Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Innovation, Iceland. “In recent years, we have seen exciting developments of better energy utilisation with technologies that aim to utilise effluent gases or runoff water from power plants for new industries within green industrial parks. Where the waste for one company is the raw material for another one.”
Photography by Svetlana Sinitsyna via Unsplash
Success stories
“In this respect, we have success stories related to fish farming, algae production, renewable fuel production, medicines and others,” she continues. “This circular approach has generated new jobs and increased R&D activities and innovation in general. Just to mention two examples: Carbfix and Carbon Recycling International (CRI).” The latter has developed an emissions-to-liquids (ETL) technology that makes it possible to transform carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and hydrogen into methanol for fuel applications, greener chemicals and products. “These new processes have potential global applications. Both of these companies are located next to power plants and are examples of innovation and circularity within the energy field,” the Minister concludes.
Carbfix
Operating as an independent subsidiary of Reykjavik Energy since 2019, Carbfix dissolves CO2 in water, injects it into the subsurface and turns it into stone in less than two years through proprietary technology that imitates and accelerates nature's way of permanently storing carbon. The Carbfix process captures and permanently removes CO2. For the Carbfix technology to work, favourable rocks, water and a source of CO2 are needed. The technology provides a complete carbon capture and storage (CCS) solution, where CO2 dissolved in carbonated water is injected into the subsurface where it reacts with favourable rock formations to form solid carbonate minerals through natural processes.
Following Carbfix’s successful pilot phase at the Hellisheiði Geothermal Power Station that started in 2012, the Icelandic start-up, in collaboration with ON Power, another Reykjavik Energy subsidiary, decided to scale up and at simultaneously capture CO2 and H2S (hydrogen sulphide, a colourless, flammable, water-soluble gas with the characteristic smell of rotten eggs) through a simple single-stage scrubbing process. CO2 at the plant is also captured directly from the atmosphere in collaboration with Climeworks AG, a Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) spin-off company, and co-injected with the other gases. Reykjavik Energy’s owners are the City of Reykjavik and two other, smaller municipalities—Akranes and Borgarbyggð. It has been estimated that Europe could, theoretically, store at least 4,000 billion tonnes of CO2 in rocks, while the United States could store no less than 7,500 billion tonnes, according to Carbfix.
Carbfix has “saved us substantial amounts of money, because other methods that we were thinking about using were much more expensive and also less efficient,” says Berglind Rán Ólafsdóttir, CEO, ON Power, highlighting the importance of innovation in solving the biggest challenges in society. “This is one example of how innovation plays a role, enabling us to be part of the solution rather part of the problem.”
Future opportunities
Sigurður H. Markússon, Business Development Manager, Landsvirkjun, the National Power Company of Iceland, sees exciting circular economy opportunities in Icelandin the areas of hydrogen mobility and transport, sustainable food systems, and eco-industrial systems. Founded in 1965, Landsvirkjun operates 17 power plants in Iceland and is a pillar of the Icelandic economy, with an installed capacity of 2,155 MWe. The biggest electricity company on the island, generating 73 per cent of Iceland’s electricity (100 per cent renewable), is committed to becoming climate neutral by 2025. “We have great potential to use geothermal more for industrial use and create opportunities for circularity within industrial production with more use of geothermal energy for greenhouses and so on,” says Markússon.
Changing our mindset
ON Power owns and operates two geothermal steam plants, in Hellisheiði, the largest single-site geothermal power plant on the planet, and in Nesjavellir, both built to meet the increased need for hot water in the community, as well as a hydropower station in Andakíl, Borgarfjörður, which is used to generate electricity. ON Power produces and sells electricity to the entire Icelandic population, in addition to producing hot water that is sold to Veitur Utilities, the country’s biggest utility company.
“Our mission is to increase the quality of life through our operations in a sustainable manner and to be leaders in innovation and development of renewable energy,” says Ólafsdóttir. “Respect for the environment is and should be at the centre of everything we do. We put substantial effort into creating and implementing ways to minimise the carbon footprint of our operations.”
Emissions
“All production and manufacturing lead to emissions,” Ólafsdóttir acknowledges. “The production of electricity at ON Power generates emissions of 7 grammes of CO2 per produced kilowatt hour (gCO2/kWh). To put this into context, electricity produced using the burning of coal emits around 100 gCO2/kWh. Even though our emissions are low, it is important to strive for improvement, always. No company is perfect and neither are we. Our goal is zero emissions or as close possible to zero per cent by 2030. I do not think zero point zero is realistic.”
Multi-stakeholder collaboration
Landsvirkjun has created multi-stakeholder collaborations throughout the island, for example in green hydrogen production, eco-friendly industrial parks and other green innovation. He highlights the Orkídea project in southern Iceland, Blámi in the Westfjords and Eimur, a public-private partnership/cluster in the field of energy, increased utilisation of geothermal resources and innovation in the North East. Orkídea is an innovation centre located that aims to promote and facilitate energy-related business opportunities, especially through the utilisation of green energy in food production and biotechnology. The name Orkídea is derived from the words energy (“orka” in Icelandic) and ideas. Thus, the name refers to both green energy and the innovative ideas that are cultivated on fertile ground. The Blámi Project aims to increase the use of environmentally-friendly fuel, hydrogen and e-fuel in transport and industry. It will support energy and climate change-related projects, empowering entrepreneurs and promoting innovation in the Westfjords. “We see exciting times ahead in circularity thinking,” Markússon concludes.
International co-operation
How does Iceland help other countries with their geothermal potential? Sigthor Jonsson, CEO, GEG Power, sees collaboration as a solution to help other countries exploit the possibilities with geothermal power. GEG Power is an Iceland-headquartered geothermal developer building its business on more than a decade of experience in the development and building geothermal wellhead power plants. The company’s first plant started operations in Kenya in 2011. To date, GEG Power has built a total of 16 geothermal power plants with a total power generation capacity of 85.6 MW in Kenya and Iceland. GEG Power works globally with its partners and is involved in all stages of geothermal financing and project management.
Wind of change
Together with its customers, Vestas Wind Systems A/S has installed more than 132 GW of wind power capacity, including over 5.8 GW offshore, and services a global portfolio in excess of 113 GW, the largest fleet in the world, as of December 31, 2020. It employs more than 30,000 people. In January 2020, the firm launched an ambitious sustainability strategy.
“Regarding circularity, our ambition is to produce zero-waste wind turbines by 2040, starting with the rotor,” says Allan K. Poulsen, Head of Advanced Structures and Sustainability, Vestas. “A wind turbine is over 85 per cent recyclable already, so we are now targeting the remaining 15 per cent.”
While 85 per cent of turbine components can be recycled, turbine blades are built using composite materials that are difficult to dispose of, and have been known to end up in the landfill. Blades represent the most substantial barrier to realising a 100 per cent recyclable wind turbine, according to Vestas. The company has multiple innovation projects in place to increase recyclability. On closing the carbon cycle, Poulsen emphasises that “we do not want the carbon to leave the loop, that is our highest ambition. We are always focusing on projects that allow us to get the carbon back in the loop, somehow, from the materials that we use. That is also quite ambitious and we need to develop technologies for that.”
“We need to change our mindset and that is where the circular economy comes in,” Ólafsdóttir concludes.
This article has been written by Marie Storli and Peter Michel Heilmann based on the speeches and conversations that took place during “Renewable Energy & Circular Economy” session of the Nordic Circular Summit 2020. The session was hosted by Festa.
