POWER September 2022 - 28

TOP PLANT
Geothermal Energizes
an Entire Economy
Courtesy: HS Orka
The Svartsengi plant in Iceland has operated for decades, and continues to build its
legacy as the facility's electricity generation and hot water support new businesses
and provide a remarkable example of the power of renewable energy.
Darrell Proctor
P
ower plants are important to local
communities, and often serve as
the backbone of a regional economy,
with homes and businesses relying
on the electricity a facility produces.
In Iceland, the country's geothermal
power plants are supporting a national
economy, bringing innovation to power
production and spawning development
of new industries. A prime example is
Svartsengi (Figure 1), a geothermal plant
that first came online more than 40 years
ago and continues to evolve. It provides
electricity and hot water, serving as the
heating system for the residents of the
Reykjanes Peninsula. The Resource Park
at Svartsengi includes several companies
that use the power station's resources,
including the world-famous Blue Lagoon
spa, along with cosmetics manufacturers,
biotechnology companies, and aquaculture
businesses.
The park also has supported green
methanol production, in a process where
carbon emissions from the power plant
have been captured and turned into green
methanol, a low-carbon fuel that can be
made from either biomass gasification, or
renewable electricity and captured carbon
dioxide. Svartsengi's importance to an entire
country, not just its local community,
and its status as home to the innovative
Resource Park makes the facility a worthy
recipient of a POWER Top Plant award for
renewable energy.
" Geothermal energy has had a significant
impact on Iceland, both economically
as well as by contributing to a high
28
quality of life, " said Dagný Jónsdóttir,
manager of Resource Park. " During the
20th century, Iceland went from being
one of the poorest countries in Europe,
dependent on imported coal as an energy
source, to now being a country with
high living standards and where practically
all stationary energy is derived from
domestic renewable resources. This reduces
the economic exposure to external
energy markets.
" For years, Svartsengi has been a model
for both other Icelandic geothermal
stations as well as being a model for the
multi-use of resource streams from the
geothermal power generation, " said Jónsdóttir.
She told POWER, " Svartsengi's primary
purpose has always been to serve
the neighboring communities by supply
of critical infrastructure, such as heating,
potable water, and stable power supply. "
Jónsdóttir noted that geothermal " is
mostly used in space heating and electricity
generation, with nine of every 10
households being heated with geothermal
energy [the rest is mainly coming from
hydropower], It also allows for other amenities
such as heated swimming pools all
year round and heated sport fields, streets,
and parking spaces during the snowy winter.
Several industries have also gained a
foothold in Iceland because of geothermal
energy, for example, some types of landbased
fish farming and greenhouses, industries
that would not exist here without
the geothermal energy source. "
Plant Built in Six Phases
Yngvi Guðmundsson, chief engineer at
www.powermag.com
Svartsengi, said the plant was built in six
phases. The first phase, a 50-MW thermal
unit, came online in 1977, but has
since been decommissioned. Phase II, a
110-MW thermal unit, entered operation
in 1980, along with Phase III, which has
6 MW of electricity generation capacity.
Phase IV, an 8-MW power unit, came
online in 1989. Phase V, with 80-MW
thermal capacity and 30-MW power capacity,
began operating in 1999. Phase VI
came online in 2008, providing 30 MW of
power generation capacity.
Guðmundsson said Svartsengi's power
generation comes from its Phase III
through Phase VI units. Phase III is a
backpressure turbine (6 bara to 1.2 bara)
from Fuji Electric Japan. Phase IV is a
7x Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbine
from Ormat (1.2 bara inlet pressure
steam from the backpressure unit).
Phase V is a single flash condensing
steam turbine from Fuji Electric Japan
(inlet pressure 6.5 bara). Phase VI, said
Guðmundsson, is a " single turbine consisting
of 10 MW backpressure turbine
(15.5 bara to 6.5 bara) and 20-MW condensing
turbine (6.5 bara inlet pressure)
on the same turbine rotor. "
" Each phase has had its own purpose
and they have mostly been very different, "
said Guðmundsson. " The first two
phases had the primary purpose of supplying
hot water to the neighboring communities,
which relied on coal and oil for
heating at the time. The third phase was
a backpressure steam turbine, which
allowed HS Orka [the plant's operator]
to generate power as well. The fourth
POWER | September 2022
http://www.powermag.com
POWER September 2022

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