The Hellisheiði Power Station ( is, Hellisheiðarvirkjun, ) is the eighth-largest
geothermal power station in the world and largest in Iceland.
[
] The facility is located in
Hengill, southwest
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, from the
Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station
The Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station ( is, Nesjavallavirkjun, ) is the second-largest geothermal power station in Iceland. The facility is located above sea level in the southwestern part of the country, near Þingvellir National Park and t ...
. The plant has a capacity of of electricity and th of hot water for
Reykjavik's
district heating
District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...
. The power station is owned and operated by
ON Power, a subsidiary of
Reykjavík Energy.
History
Electricity production with two
turbines
A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful Work (physics), work. The work produced by a turbine can be used ...
commenced in 2006. In 2007, an additional low pressure
steam turbine of was added. In 2008, two turbines were added with steam from Skarðsmýrarfjall Mountain. The hot water plant was introduced in 2010 and the last two high pressure 45 MW turbines were added in 2011.
In order to reduce
hydrogen sulphide pollution in the capital area a system was added to the plant in 2014 which reinjects non-condensable gases into the ground.
Renewed drilling
In 2016 the operator, ON, announced a program of new drilling to deal with falling steam levels which had first become apparent in 2013. The program was expected in 2017 to cost 19 billion Icelandic crowns to maintain a steady electric output.
Features
The power plant offers educational tours and presentations about
sustainable energy as part of its Geothermal Energy Exhibition.
A pilot
direct air capture
Direct air capture (DAC) is a process of capturing carbon dioxide () directly from the ambient air (as opposed to capturing from point sources, such as a cement factory or biomass power plant) and generating a concentrated stream of for seque ...
facility operated by
Climeworks is co-located at this site. It was funded by the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
's
Horizon 2020 program, and captures 50 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. The carbon dioxide is captured, injected into the ground, and mineralized.
See also
*
Geothermal power in Iceland
Geothermal power in Iceland refers to the use of geothermal energy in Iceland for electricity generation.
Iceland’s uniquely active geology has led to natural conditions especially suitable for harnessing geothermal energy. Icelanders have long ...
*
List of largest power stations in the world
This article lists the largest power stations in the world, the ten overall and the five of each type, in terms of current installed electrical capacity. Non-renewable power stations are those that run on coal, fuel oils, nuclear fuel, natural g ...
*
List of power stations in Iceland
The following page lists all power stations in Iceland. Nearly all of Iceland's electricity (>99%) is generated from renewables (mainly hydroelectric dams and geothermal). The islands of Grimsey and Flatey rely on diesel as they are not c ...
*
Renewable energy in Iceland
Iceland is a world leader in renewable energy. 100% of Iceland's electricity grid is produced from renewable resources. In terms of total energy supply, 85% of the total primary energy supply in Iceland is derived from domestically produced rene ...
*
CarbFix
References
External links
*
Hellisheiði Power Plant 2006-10-21 - Picture gallery from islandsmyndir.is* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140415203703/http://islandsmyndir.is/html_skjol/annad/Virkjanir/Hellisheidarvirkjun-2009-10-04/index.html Hellisheiði Power Plant 2009-10-04 - Picture gallery from islandsmyndir.is]
Hellisheiði Power Plant, Inside 2012-04-27 - Picture gallery from islandsmyndir.is
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Geothermal power stations in Iceland