ON Power ( Icelandic: Orka náttúrunnar ), is an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic power company, headquartered in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

, that produces and sells electricity to industry and households by harnessing renewable, mainly

geothermal Geothermal is related to energy and may refer to: * Geothermal energy, useful energy generated and stored in the Earth * Geothermal activity, the range of natural phenomena at or near the surface, associated with release of the Earth's internal he ...

, resources. ON Power also provides water for

space heating A heating system is a mechanism designed to regulate and maintain a desired temperature within a space by utilizing thermal energy. It is a fundamental component of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, providing warmth to resi ...

in Reykjavík and surrounding areas. Traditionally, ON Power's main service area is Reykjavík and surrounding areas in the south-west part of Iceland, although households and businesses can buy electricity from any supplier in Iceland, regardless of location.

History

ON Power was founded on 1 January 2014 as a subsidiary of Reykjavik Energy – which is owned by the city of

and the municipalities of

Akranes Akranes () is a port town and municipality on the west coast of Iceland, around north of the capital Reykjavík. The area where Akranes is located was settled in the 9th century; however, it did not receive a municipal charter until 1942. His ...

and

Borgarnes Borgarnes () is a town located on a peninsula at the shore of Borgarfjörður in Iceland and is the largest town in the Borgarbyggð municipality with a population of about 3800 residents. It is a main junction in Iceland and the gateway to the ...

. To comply with Icelandic law no. 65/2003 that effectively call for the de-regulation of the Icelandic

electricity market An electricity market is a system that enables the exchange of electrical energy, through an electrical grid. Historically, electricity has been primarily sold by companies that operate electric generators, and purchased by consumers or electr ...

, Reykjavik Energy moved its production and sales of electricity – including power plants – into the ON Power subsidiary.

Power Plants

ON Power owns and operates the

Nesjavellir The Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station (, ) 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 the Hengill mountain r ...

and Hellisheiði Geothermal Plants. The plants provide electricity and hot water to industry and households in Iceland. 99% of housing in the Reykjavík area is space-heated with hot water provided by geothermal sources. Both plants are situated in the

Hengill Hengill () is a volcanic table mountain situated in the south-west of Iceland, to the south of Þingvellir. The volcano is still active, as evidenced by its numerous hot springs and fumaroles, but the last eruption occurred approximately 2,000&n ...

region; an active volcanic ridge in the south-west part of Iceland. ON also operates the Andakílsárvirkjun hydrostation, situated in

Borgarfjörður Borgarfjörður () is a fjord in the west of Iceland near the town of Borgarnes. Although the waters of Borgarfjörður appear calm, the fjord has significant undercurrents and shallows. The many flat islands lying in the fjord are for the most ...

. The Nesjavellir Geothermal Plant has been operating since 1990 and the Hellisheiði Plant since 2006, with a combined output of 423 MWe and 433 MWth. The Andakílsárvirkjun has been operating since 1947 and has a total output of 8 MWe. The

Elliðaár The rivers Elliðaár (, "Elliði's rivers") are situated in the Reykjavík area in the south-west of Iceland. Two small rivers have their source in the volcanic mountain range of ''Bláfjöll'' and stream down to Elliðavatn lake at the eastern s ...

hydrostation – commissioned in 1921 – was operated by ON (and Reykjavik Energy prior to that) until 2013 when Icelandic laws 104/2001 declared the station, including machinery and pipelines, a historic preservation. As a result, the Elliðaár station was decommissioned.

Fast-Charging Stations for Electric Cars

In March 2014, ON Power opened the first DC fast-charging stations for electric cars in Iceland. Electric cars that classified under the

CHAdeMO CHAdeMO is a electric vehicle charging, fast-charging system for battery electric vehicles, developed in 2010 by the CHAdeMO Association, formed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company and five major Japanese automakers. The name is an abbreviation o ...

and Type 2 CCS quick charging method can use the stations, free of charge(although pricing will begin in 2017). Most stations also have an AC 43kW Type 2 charger. Since opening, the network has slowly expanded and now operates 16 fast charging stations. In December 2016, The Icelandic Ministry of Industry and Innovation allocated funding of 57.100.000kr over 3 years to ON in order to set up 14 individual 50kW DC fast charging stations around the country. ON plan to place chargers around the Ring Road with this funding. As a result, in May 2017 the company opened 3 additional chargers along Route 1 at Staðarskáli, Blönduós and Varmahlíð; completing the route between Reykjavík and Akureyri. ON operates 16 chargers in the following locations: * Reykjavík Area(x6) *

Reykjanesbær Reykjanesbær () is a municipality on the Southern Peninsula (''Suðurnes'') in Iceland, though the name is also used by locals to refer to the suburban region of Keflavík and Njarðvík which have grown together over the years. The municipality ...

Hellisheiði Power Station The Hellisheiði Power Station (, ) is the eighth-largest geothermal power station in the world and largest in Iceland. The facility is located in Hengill, southwest Iceland, from the Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station. The plant has a cap ...

Selfoss Selfoss may refer to: *Selfoss (town), Iceland *UMF Selfoss, a football club based in Selfoss **Selfoss men's football **Selfoss women's football *Selfoss (waterfall), Iceland *Selfoss Airport Selfoss Airport is an airport serving Selfoss, a to ...

Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...

(x2) *

Varmahlíð Varmahlíð () is a small village in Skagafjörður, northern Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and E ...

Blönduós Blönduós () is a town and former municipality in the north of Iceland with a population of 895 in 2018. Like many towns and villages around Iceland, Blönduós did not emerge as a village until the late 19th century. The town is situated on Rou ...

* Staðarskáli *

Emissions from Hellisheiði

With the geothermal plants situated at Hengill – an active volcanic area – emissions of H₂S (

hydrogen sulfide Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is toxic, corrosive, and flammable. Trace amounts in ambient atmosphere have a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. Swedish chemist ...

) and CO₂ (

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

) are released naturally from the area. Harnessing the geothermal resources has increased the concentration levels of those emissions with the expansion of the Hellisheiði Plant in recent years. ON Power has worked to reduce those emissions by injecting H₂S and CO₂ back into the bedrock. The process dissolves H₂S in condensate water and injects it back into the high-temperature geothermal reservoir. Once injected, water-rock reactions taking place in the high-temperature geothermal reservoir will mineralize the H₂S. This method continues to be tested at industrial scale at the Hellisheiði Power Plant since early 2014.

References

External links