One of the giant outdoor heated swimming pools in Iceland
Iceland is one of the most geothermally active countries in the world. Thank goodness for that, because at the same time it is also a country with few other natural resources. So what does Iceland do with all that heat? Read on.
First, let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way. We know Iceland has a lot of geothermal power plants. To the best of my knowledge, Iceland has 7 geothermal plants:
1. Svartsengi geothermal power plant – where the Blue Lagoon gets it water
2. Hellisheidi geothermal power plant – Iceland’s newest
3. Nesjavellir geothermal power plant – produces 1,800 liters of hot water per second
4. Krafla geothermal power plant – original development plans almost cancelled due to a volcanic eruption
5. Reykjanes geothermal power plant – uses very high temperature steam from 2,700 meters below ground
6. Bjarnarflag geothermal power plant – Iceland’s oldest
7. Husavik Kalina cycle plant – the first Kalina cycle geothermal plant in the world
These geothermal plants currently produce approximately 25% of Iceland’s electricity (approximately 500 MW) and studies have revealed that the country’s utilizable potential for geothermal is much, much higher (approximately 4300!).
Besides producing electricity, some of these power plants also produce hot water for district heating. So, in Iceland almost every building and house is heated with geothermal hot water but, that’s not all. This hot water flows through thermally insulated pipes all over the country and is used for:
-Greenhouses
-Filling swimming pools – and believe me there’s lots of them
-Steam bathes and saunas
-Ice removal from sidewalks, roads, runways, soccer fields – you name it.
-Fish drying – the steam is used to heat the air in indoor facilities
-Some restaurants use steam to cook with
-Diatomite processing
You get the picture – Iceland has hot water in spades. Lucky for them that it does because without it this country would be a lot less hospitable. It solves many of the problems associated with life in a country just below the arctic circle.
