A submarine power cable to the UK or the European continent is a potential win-win project for both Iceland and the receiving country in Europe stated Mr. Magnus Bjarnason, EVP Marketing and Business Development for Iceland’s leading renewable energy company, Landsvirkjun, at the Submarine Power Cable & Interconnection Forum in Amsterdam today.
At the forum, Mr. Bjarnason presented opportunities associated with the continued development of hydro, onshore wind, and geothermal renewable energy in Iceland.
According to Landsvirkjun, Iceland offers the most competitive energy prices for industries in Europe. Current demand for the power comes from existing industries such as aluminum, data centres, and other new emerging sectors that see benefits in locating in Iceland, in addition to a potential interconnector to the UK or the European continent.
The potential interconnector complements the successful industrial strategy in Iceland, where global power consumers such as Rio Tinto Alcan, Alcoa, BlueStar Elkem, and Verne Global Data Center, owned by the UK based Welcome Trust, have located their operations in the country and all plan to continue developments due to the competitive environment in Iceland.
“A submarine power cable to the UK or the European continent is a potential win-win project for both Iceland and the receiving country in Europe due to competitive pricing, enhanced security of baseload energy supply, and the fact that the renewable energy counts towards the EU 2020 targets. With an interconnector, Iceland will have an even more efficient electricity system that continues to offer progressive global companies the most competitive terms available in Europe,” stated Mr. Bjarnason during the conference.
This Marcus Evans 2nd annual Submarine Power Cable Interconnection Forum, taking place in Amsterdam, Netherlands between 23rd – 25th May, brings together the leading minds in electricity cable and interconnections to develop their understanding of how to overcome the challenges presented by the laying of submarine cables.
For more information regarding renewable energy in Iceland, visit www.landsvirkjun.com.
Scotland alone has enough wind and wave power potential to power the whole of Europe. All it needs if a few tens of billions of euro’s to develop.
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( p194 ) ..The following table brings together the main glacial rivers of the Icelandic highlands, going clockwise round the country, along with the names by which their potential power development schemes would likely be known.
[ snip out the details you can see following earlier link to my post. ]
Total 16.6 TWh/year
If we add to these 16.6 terawatt-hours the 7 generated by existing plants, it …gets us up to about 23.6 terawatt-hours a year…
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The whole picture has been there and available in documents and re- ports for years but never been laid out on the table for public viewing. The country has never been told exactly what lies behind these 30 TERAWATT-HOURS. The talk of submarine transmission lines has always centred on the cable itself; most people seem to have thought that this was just a question of sticking in a plug at Búrfell and laying a cable over to Britain.
In fact, to make it pay, a submarine cable would require the harnessing of the three great glacial rivers of the north and the east, Jökulsá á Fjöllum, Jökulsá á Dal and Jökulsá á Fljótsdal, and diverting them down a single channel. ( p208 ) “
Now it is worth reading ‘ Dreamland ‘ by Andri Snær Magnason http://www.andrimagnason.com/books/dreamland/ ( not the film by the the book ) which will give you idea of how much possible power can be generated in Iceland from renewble resources.
” (p190 ) By 2002, Iceland had already harnessed 7 terawatt-hours a year. Of this, around 4 terawatt-hours went to heavy industry.
” The electricity used in all the homes, schools, street lights, hospitals, offices, factories and other institutions in Iceland – everything outside heavy industry – comes to less than three terawatt-hours a year. ( p 196 )
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Read more: https://www.icenews.is/index.php/2011/03/19/british-government-investigates-electric-imports-from-iceland/#comment-547985
Yes! Magnus Bjarnason’s reasoning is impeccably correct!!!
But he forgot to mention (…an indication of the modesty for which we are famous) our other selling point: Iceland also has the most honest and reputable bankers in the world.
Gummi