The ‘Energy for Debt’ proposal is able to revitalise the Icelandic economy very quickly and direct structural development in the right (i.e. 21st century, with all its energy/resource deficit-based) direction. Good for Iceland, good for the UK, good for Holland.
The following is a letter to IceNews received from the Planck Foundation. All IceNews readers are welcome to send material to news<at>icenews.is which may be published in whole or in part, subject to editorial standards.
Dear IceNews,
As you know President Grimsson of Iceland Tuesday announced at a press conference in Reykjavik that there will be a referendum concerning the bank deposit insurance law.
As he has stated he was very much impressed by the discussion last week in the Icelandic parliament, the media articles, and above this all, by the more than 25% of inhabitants -in terms of voters- signing the petition (www.indefence.is).
For the Icelandic Administration (led by Prime Minister Ms. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir) this choice of President Grimsson for a referendum was not easy, as the consequences of it could be huge and all ministers had worked hard to reach, for the Althingi (parliament), an acceptable agreement and the negotiation attitude of UK and NL was severe and hard.
The ‘Energy for Debt’ proposal made by the Planck Foundation to UK/NL/IS is a very valid alternative, which is in the benefit of both all three nations (UK/NL/IS) and their inhabitants, both financially and energy wise. The ‘Energy for Debt’ solution fits with mutual principles and suits every party involved in solving this issue and creating a working future perspective.
This ‘Energy for Debt’ proposal is able to revitalize the Icelandic economy very quickly and direct structurally in the right (i.e. 21st century, with all it energy/resources deficits based) direction. Good for Iceland, good for the UK, good for Holland.
The geothermal energy resources of Iceland are huge, very huge, and (relative to the potential) yet mainly not explored. Unlike hydropower, geothermal also has only positive environmental impacts and almost unlimited supply.
Supporting Iceland, the UK and Holland by building the energy business case, engineering the geothermal, tidal, wind and HVDC technology, engineering the overall finance model, attracting global energy/data players and making the case open to any business in UK/NL/IS is something we within Open Foundation really would like to do in 2010.
For Europe (besides from the energy perspective) the ‘Energy For Debt’ issue is certainly a better option, as the current repayment text is as soft as warm butter in legal terms (the text is more a commitment to discuss later instead of a hard agreement). Or loosing Iceland for the EU or even NATO.
An EUR 12,000 extra debt per Icelandic citizen for an economy with not much of an outlook is certainly a heavy weighted issue. It’s even more per Icelandic family (E UR 30,000) and yet even more with the 5.5% interest cumulation at the end of the road (EUR 40,000 per family).
It does take genialness to understand that this is not a working plan. In fact: it’s no plan at all, nor for the debtor, nor for the creditors: it just creates and maintains a financial desert, with no economic success chances whatsoever. It was just the first plan try-out. No offence. Expecting bullseye in just one shot is not realistic. Let’s create a new plan that builds Iceland and covers the incurred loses all together. Let’s not get hard to the negotiators on all sides: they were sent into the situation into a total new territory. let’s learn from Versailles, not repeat it.
In the UK or NL perspectives (relative to number of inhabitants) this would result in huge numbers in debt figures: just do the maths and you’ll see that the current payment proposal was not realistic. Certainly for a very small economy of only 318,000 people that mainly also has to start all over again almost from scratch. This translation to own proportions/figures is something the UK and NL haven’t done (openly or in silence, that’s not important for the outcome).
This proportionally large debt is something that can’t be solved with a long payment holiday period: this is a structural economic burden for companies and households for a decade long. Iceland had the choice of becoming the ‘Cuba of the North’ (isolation) by not signing, or becoming the Haiti of the North (poverty) by signing. A difficult choice.
Without multilateral support to get the debtor back on its feet, this could have some severe external consequences (for example: an exit of Iceland from NATO etc), due to the internal consequences of a bankrupted nation with not much of future perspectives: a potential greenhouse for a Weimar-like situation.
Helping a debtor, and by this taking care of the energy supply for the UK and Holland, is certainly an opportunity. Helping them to get on their feet is certainly part of the European tradition.
Blaming doesn’t deliver any solutions: not for the UK, nor for Holland, nor in Iceland. Polarization within Europe doesn’t help Europe further. Polarization within Iceland doesn’t help Iceland further. It’s time to solve the occurred problems. The ‘Energy for Debt’ option is the only one that provides a valid solution for all stakeholders.
Iceland could supply the UK and Holland all the energy it needed generate in a mix of wind and geothermal. Clean, cheap and with no negative geopolitical consequences like we’re used regarding to oil. The geothermal energy generation potential if Iceland is larger than our imagination: it’s both just what we need and exactly what we like.
This ‘Energy for Debt’ option could give the UK and Holland a wider head start in becoming the digital/fiber crosspoints of Europe. This addresses the main port strategy, already implemented in seafreight, airfreight, airplane passengers, oil, natural gas, power and fiber.
The dutch state owned power infrastructure company Tennet has already done an Iceland/UK/Holland power cable feasibility study. All HVDC cables has build-in fiber cables for datatransport. Both Tennet and Novec (the daughter company of Tennet that operates the state owned wireless towers and fiber wires) certainly can be a part of this european cross point strategy in both power and data.
The recent Eon network purchase of Tennet in Germany is a proof of this strategy. When Desertec (power from the desert) also will be operational, Holland than will have a head start in international power transmission management.
Furthermore: The datacenters of the world certainly will go ‘up north’, as cooling requires ‘up north’ almost no energy (‘down south’ it takes +70% on the server/storage energy use). For example: Within Google is moving up north the only valid option (as moving off shore on sea is too expensive in terms of insurance). The colder climate of Iceland is certainly an attractive environment for datacenters.
In our ‘Energy for Debt” proposal UK and NL help (both by engineering and capital funding) Iceland to develop its geothermal resources with an HVDC cable network to the european mainland and repayments will be done from-out a surplus and not a deficit. The capital is funded within the business case and will not burden the Icelandic state, but is fully generated by the business case.
In all HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) cables there is also fiber installed. When the cables are redundant Iceland will become beside energy supplier of Europe, also the datacenter location of the world (as cooling takes all over the world +70% extra energy on top of the servers/storage energy use and in Iceland this could be only 5%. All the big data companies (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Sun, IBM, etc) will open datacenters in Iceland.
Helping another nation to get strong again (after a set back) is very much in the european tradition. As we all know Versailles has proven to be not the right answer, and this situation is also much more different to the post WW I situation.
In our perspective is helping the Icelandic economy back on its feet and by this solving also the debt issue the only right way. The other way around is no a workable plan we think.
For more details on our solution basic principles please visit www.openfoun.org. For testimonials concerning our economic concepts please visit www.planck.org.
I know for sure that the ‘Energy for Debt’ option will give Iceland a new perspective in 2010. It will also give Iceland, the UK and Holland more energy diversity and more energy security. A good financial and energy system are the two main builders of prosperity. Something we’ve certainly forgotten in the last years.
Iceland has very valid/crucial items (energy diversity and energy security) to offer to Mainland Europe. That’s the base line of our ‘Energy for Debt’ proposal.
It changes the focus of the discussion to mutual cooperation tone of voice, and give Iceland an economic impulse plus energy independence, plus both the UK and Holland regional originated and clean generated energy.
What’s could be the planning for the ‘Energy for Debt’ solution? First things first. First the Administrations of UK/NL/IS need to agree on the mutual benefits of this ‘Energy for Debt’ possibility. Let’s do that first, it’s simple and has huge impact on normalization of the relations. From there it’s ‘down hill’ in terms of complexity, as irritation then will replaced by mutual interests based cooperation.
The finance of the ‘Energy for Debt’ solution can be done by the US designed Open Finance Model, a model that by its design performs, even in times of a Credit Crunch (what has caused all this turmoil).
If we do it right, this not very pleasant situation for all three nations, can be the birth-ground of the energy transition to a more 21st century suitable model for all three nations. Severe loses than become major advantages. Let’s do it. The model is available.
Gijs B. Graafland
Director Planck Foundation (www.planck.org).
Initiator Open Foundation (www.openfoun.org)
(The above is an external submission and is not the view of IceNews. All external submissions will be considered for publication, subject to editorial discretion.)
Debts of any description give cause for drastic measures. It is positive to read that some of the small nations are taking steps to forge forward and adopt positive and lasting changes for the future economy and health of its country.
Graafland still thinking about Icelandic energy.
http://csrwiretalkback.tumblr.com/post/455149845/the-win-win-plan-for-iceland-britain-and-the
[…] recently came one big step closer to making the innovative “Energy for Debt” plan a reality, when the country’s voters rejected a referendum to pay back debt incurred by the […]
There are many advances occuring in the world of UHV-DC power transmission as well as in the manufacture of undersea power cables. Over the long-term future, there will be potential to connect a newer generation undersea power cable between Iceland and the east coast of Canada. During the overnight hours (11:00Pm to 6:00AM) when there is excess generating capacity in Eastern Canada, electric power could flow from Eastern Canada to Iceland and to European markets that will be at the start of the peak AM demand for electric power.
Gijs – Planck Foundation:
Your three team members are correct, affairs in Iceland are too much up in the air for immediate decision-making, or choosing among ideas for development directions. However, you have done well to introduce your Foundation now. As Axel’s links to examples of Icelandic energy development projects show, Icelandic companies were at the forefront in many technological areas when the political/financial crisis disrupted the economy and threw all into hiatus. As yourselves and they both work to develop technological solutions on global scale, and in areas of innovative energy use and development, once the current situation is resolved, so Icelandic companies may turn their attentions again to planning and projecting and innovating, and will again have access to financing for their plans and projects, your Foundation scientists and they should be able to build mutually valuable partnerships from which you both should be able to develop new innovations and solutions, which, when and where you are able to implement them you will, together, be able to provide many different peoples in many different places in the global world opportunities to develop new energy solutions. Ones that will serve their purposes and your and your partners’ purposes, and the global world’s purposes as well.
I said
“This would be a good idea if its possible”
meaning its a good idea to sell energy to Europe,
if it is not too expensive and the right people are involved in doing this.
@ Giova Bocca
Thanks for a very useful post, it clarified a few things i have been thinking about lately.
This would be a good idea if its possible,
Icelandic companies are building geo-thermal energy stations in many countries, new deep drilling technology can increase power output of existing holes 5-10 fold,
http://www.iceland-drilling.com/?pageid=349
Some information about one of our power company’s
http://www.landsvirkjun.com/operations/power-stations/
How we convert Co2 into fuel, like Ethanol or Bio-Diesel for example using new technology.
http://www.carbonrecycling.is/index.html
A factory is being built at Svartsengi geo-thermal power plant, it will generate 4m liters of fuel the first year from Co2.
http://www.mannvit.com/AboutUs/News/Readarticle/1588
2012.is New beginning.
http://2012.is/index.php?option=com_frontpage&msl=english&Itemid=61
Dear IceNews readers, I think our efforts deserves a little more credit than expressed above. We have designed a common accepted good solution for Iceland, the UK and Holland, have steered a vital discussion in the right (ie common interest) way, lobbied for it to the IMF, the Worldbank, the Althingi (Icelandic Parliament), the parliament in Holland, the parliament in the UK, the EU parliament, the current Administrations of all three nations, as well the global financial media. In the background we’ve also addressed the polarization in this case, both international (IS/UK/NL/EU/IMF) and national (in the three nations). Reading the distrust as formulated above is not fair in relation to our efforts in this case. Who are we? We’re just a group of independent working scientists in the field of energy and/on finance. Our strategy analyses and advices are appreciated good around the globe (see http://www.planck.org). Further information about our economic models are openly accessible in our publications. What’s our motivation? We have been working as well paid corporate and governmental analysts and advisers for almost two decades, some of our reports can be found on the Internet, most of them have been custom made and therefore used in internal processes. We have build a track record in strategic analyses and advices, both for corporations and governments. We’re now in a position that we can devote large parts of the our time to contribute substantial to the global energy transition process, which in our perspective is crucial for prosperity for the northern hemisphere. Our first step in that direction as scientists was of course research. After that we’ve taken the next step: creating standard models that could be used everywhere. This is the story behind our plan B for Iceland (Energy for Debt). So it’s not a conspiracy to rob Iceland of its resources (the geothermal resources of Iceland are unlimited, exploring them and delivering them to the world market, that are the issues that need to be addressed), nor about offering fake solutions (our solution is of -very?- good quality. Read our publications and read what other not stupid people have said or written about us. I hope our model will be accepted by the three Administrations and the IMF. Market driven energy finance is something we have researched a lot. Our energy finance models are capable of delivering the quantity of projects that are needed to revitalize the Icelandic economy. Dig into our energy finance models. Let’s discuss the right (ie effective working) energy finance models. That’s what Iceland needs for realizing a strong and divers economy that will survive the 21st century with its energy deficits that threat the prosperity we’ve as Europe (not complete without Iceland) build in the 20th century. If you have some time visit http://www.planck.org or http://www.openfoun.org. Let’s do a model need and model facet discussion. Read the energy finance models of us and of other research units. Regarding the above comments: Marc Schneiders is a very high skilled DNS specialist who has been involved in both the ICANN and several open root DNS initiatives. He has done within Planck Foundation several very good redundant DNS configuration designs for banks, telcos and governmental organizations. Busy people don’t maintain their CV very good: there is no reason for them to do so. Regarding the cheap parallel between our models and the ‘oil for food’ program: Everybody who has read our publications knows that we’re strong defenders of open models. The ‘food for oil’ model wasn’t, and thereby it got all the problems attached to closed models (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil-for-Food_Programme). Our models are open. Open in technological design so that the geothermal and transport technologies advance very fast. Open in licences/concessions model. This open concession model prevents that the geothermal resources of Iceland will be explored by just one giant company, with all the problems attached to that (so no single operator based design). Open in transport model by which even for small energy generating companies can export their generated power (kWh or hydrogen) easy and cheap to the european mainland (so no single operator based design). Open in finance design, so that every business can use it and has access to. (so no single operator based design).The cornerstone of our finance model and attached platform is that the investors get paid back in kWh and not in any currency (USD or Euro). For long term investors like pension funds a ROI in kWh is very attractive. Our energy finance model delivers them for free a hedge (insurance) against inflation (as currencies will decline in value a lot the next decades) and also for free a capital growth model (as energy will increase in value a lot the next decades). If anybody has the opinion that Iceland should not explore its geothermal resources and stick to fish export (currently 70% of the exports): just start a petition, recent history has shown that this is very effective. But please don’t criticize solutions before researching them. Three of our current Iceland Team members has resigned based on above opinions (“let these people do there own laundry”, “this nation is totally mixed up in emotions” and “better things to do, than investing time in a nation which is political boiling right now”, were the reasons they give me). Everybody has to decide for themselves if Iceland should explore its unlimited geothermal opportunities. And if, the way it should be done. And yes, we’ve a head start in this. Not granted by anyone, but just earned by long research and development. A head start we want to share with everybody involved, as we’re supporters of open intelligence.
James,
There are two ways to count banks’ assets. One is to count money out in loans, mortgages, etc., which is “unsecured” value, even though the assets loaned against may be assigned collateral value, along with the value of owned securities, reserves, etc., which are usually also investments, but are considered certainly valued at market prices. The other way is the way you indicate you count, that the collateral assets’ and investment assets’ values are not the banks’ even though they back the loans. This way of accounting counts the banks loaned money to belong to the borrowers, not the banks. By this method the only assets the banks have are in their reserve accounts. Everything else is “owned” by others. This is the way the UK has been counting the Icelandic banks’ assets. In the beginning this gave an appearance that all the money the banks had out at loan was simply gone. As propagandists spun it, carried away by owners of football teams, High Street shops and others who held loans. Relatively little was in the banks reserves, which the Brit government shut the banks down for having too little in anyway. The money in the reserves the British government took into exchequer holding accounts. The loan papers it took into receiver custody. Iceland has had neither the loan papers nor the cash and reserve assets. Britain has been holding both as collateral against repayment to depositors.
Since then, as the borrowers football team owners, High Street merchants and most all others have continued to make payments the loaned out moneys, with interest, have been rolling back in. They have not gone to Iceland, they have gone into the Exchequer holding accounts. There that money sits, adding up more as payments are made, but collecting no interest, because the UK government does not pay interest on it, though it is able to count the money as reserves and use it, since it “paid off” depositors. Paid off is in quotes because while small depositors were paid off, ones with accounts over the limit got only the limit, and off-shore depositors, e.g.,Isle of Man residents, have received nothing of what the UK holds, and uses.
Today, as you note, which you learned from your recent reading, the amount of repayment resting in the UK Exchequer, with the value added that the interim of steady repayments on the blanks’ loans, instead of foreclosures, indicate the banks’ loan portfolios to hold adds to about 90% of what Iceland is said to owe. This is with no banking by those banks since their being put into receivership. The banks are stagnant but earning. This indicates very good banking practices, meaning conservative lending, by the banks before they were closed by Britain. The indications are that if the present wrangling continues another year the banks’ assets will likely be worth more than Iceland owes, even with the banks continuing stagnant. Note that selling the banks assets at auction would not bring the 90% as asset auctions are not like sale negotiations, so the wise thing would be to operate the banks as banks, which would recover the depositors’ assets, that being what the banks were in the business of doing before they were put in receivership.
Note that Iceland does not have access to the loan paper Britain holds for security, or to the deposits from loan repayments in the British Exchequer. Those are held by Britain. When Britain collapsed the Icelandic banks, in Iceland, by putting their British branches into receivership those Icelandic banks in Iceland did not have access to the branch funds Britain used the Terror law to claim and hold from Iceland. Thus, when the Icelandic banks in Iceland collapsed the only money Iceland had to reimburse depositors was what was in Iceland. You will hear some slow-minded in Britain grumping that Iceland looked out for Icelandic but not Brit depositors. When you do you may point out to them that the bank funds to repay the Brit depositors were not available to Iceland to repay to Brit depositors because the Brit government had them sequestered, through putting the banks to the receivers and through claiming all money and assets under terror legislation. For that terror legislation application other European Union nations were not even sure they could cash cheques for Icelanders without violating inter-Union-member cooperation agreements, let alone loan money to the sudden North Atlantic Ally to Osama bin Laden…
Gilgamesh,
A couple of things: One, there are more Plancks that only Max Planck. Two, don’t take such writings as the Planck Foundation letter too much to heart. The Planck Foundation people are business people. What they write is always for business purpose. It is never personal. If you say “No.” they say, “OK, let’s try this, instead…” That is what the letter says. The letter is really a very good example of a business try, fail, back up, try again with another tack. Read it for fun, it is really nicely done and very enjoyable reading. If you jump up and down and scream and swear those the letter comes from will wait to see what you collapse to willing to accept when you are finished. If you laugh and say, “Good job, but no, we aren’t ready to jump on your waggon.” they will say, “Well, then, what would you rather? Make an offer to us.” This is the way business is done. you try, you are rebuffed, you try another angle. It is like swimming in the sea, if you go with the flow, use the currents and waves, you can have a lot of fun. If you panic and fight water and waves you will exhaust yourself, inhale water and drown. Iceland panicked to begin, but has a second chance now and if it relaxes, takes it easy and enjoys the bi-play it can do well. In fact, the longer the negotiating, the more the Icelandic banks’ sequestered assets will increase in value, so the longer Iceland dawdles in negotiations the less it will owe when all is finally signed. This will be especially true if some of the events that should go to court go into court: Britain, especially, will want to negotiate withdrawals of those to be part of settlement.
let’s remind who had only benefits from “Oil for Food” program… ^^
An extra debt of EUR 12,000 per capita ?
lol, Italian debt per capita have just reached EUR 30,000 and it have always been over EUR 20,000 for ages.
No problem Mr Giova Bocca,
Please don’t hesitate to act as other industrial groups (Siemens comes to my mind as they got a huge success in China railways recently) that want to equip countries on a large scale: Show up how you will finance the construction, tests, training of people and every other other items. What banks are baking you? What is your turnover?
Please could you also provide evidence that UK and Netherlands would buy your energy? Energy is one thing, fresh money is another and they are not swappable.
What they will do with their own power plants (do they will layoff their staff?)
Don’t you think UK and Netherlands would be reluctant to have only one and foreign power provider?
When I look at the CV of Planck.org domain’s owner I may have miss something, does it mention that the owner ever worked since 2006? http://www.marc.schneiders.org/cv.html
Not all Internet pranks are funny.
Giova Bocca what reality do you live in?
The various loans and assets are controlled by Iceland. Although UK govt did seize some deposits. The Iceland banks (or government) have kept the loans and can seize the huge UK-based assets (retail chains i.e Hamleys, foootball club, airlines, pub chains etc)if the loans are not paid. The loans were used by Iceland based investment houses to buy up the uk in the 90s. Apparently the Iceland govt reckons the assets will meet 90% of the debt owned to Uk/Netherlands. So this may not be a big problem afterall.
Unless people like yourself get emotional and twist the facts.
Except for the fact that Iceland doesn’t even own the existing energy infrastructure. So what, now we have to tear up Iceland even more because of some billionaire gamblers? You have to be joking. Now the worms come out of the wood. To the pit with you Plank.
Jimbo:
The Planck Foundation is a multinational syndicate that is working to corner futures (future production contracts) of energy supplies. You may read a short analysis of their Public Relations production “Global Futures Analysis” at http://www.pr-inside.com/the-credit-crisis-joins-the-energy-r815432.htm . You may link to the report itself from the pr-inside site.
An interesting quote of some Planck quotes, given by pr-inside:
“from the first pages of this report: ‘It has been said that there are three types of people: Those who make things happen. Those who watch things happen. Those who wonder what happened.’ ‘You need to understand Currency, Credit, Minerals, Energy and Water. Watching the News without some basic knowledge of those five is useless. Knowledge of those five make History, Present and Future clear to you.’ ‘Food = Soil + Carbon Energy + Water. Economy = Production + (Currency * Credit) – Cost (Minerals + Energy + Water). Wealth = Economy * Geopolitics.”
Icelanders were going to be some of “Those who wonder what happened” if the end of the year deal had gone through. Here is another quote:
“The goal of Planck Foundation is creating a huge Global/Local Development Movement. Facilitating the businesses, inhabitants and counsel of every city/village/municipal with these digital action/knowledge/communication Facilities. That’s the ?Think Global, Act Local’ response to the Credit Crisis and the Energy Crisis. At Planck Foundation we have chosen this as our main subject for the next years: finding solutions, building knowledge networks of specialists, stimulating initiatives and creating digital facilities.”
This quote says the Planck Foundation’s purpose is to corner energy as globally as they are able to. Reading their article to IceNews you can see they are slick. The article can be seen to be attempting to smooth the feathers of Icelanders and schmooze them to recognise the Planck Foundation to have only intended to be a White Knight to fair damsel Iceland, riding to rescue her from monstrous debts.
How monstrous are those debts?
British and Dutch investors are behind the Planck Foundation. This makes the Planck Foundation’s motives suspect. Also making their motives suspect is something Icelanders have been too busy hating their bankers to recognise, and recognise the importance of: That the Icelandic banks did not actually crash. they were not actually mismanaged. Glitnir might be said to have been crashed by Oddsson withholding guarantee when it needed a vote of confidence when Lehman Brothers failure stopped normal banking interactions. But Landsbanki and KSF were operatiing normally when they were thrown into receivership by Britain, essentially by political action. the reason they were put into receivership was not having required amounts of reserves on hand, especially after the Icelandic Central Bank showed by the Glitnir case that it would not support Icelandic banks, even with promises. The banks, today, sit in receivership, still operating as successful banks, except with their hands tied for being unable to do business. The money everyone has been screaming that the bankers “stole” has been all the time out as loans in Britain and Holland. Not only that, in solid enough loans most are being steadily repaid, and have been all along. The repayments go into British and Dutch government holding accounts, where the money sits, where the holding governments pay no interest, but are able to use it as reserves, or to loan to their failing banks.
Britain and Holland have said nothing about the values of the bank assets they have been holding in receivership in their countries while claiming Iceland owes them the money values of the assets they hold. They took those assets as guarantees for their depositors, so Iceland could not take their values back to Iceland, leaving their depositors with nothing, but they did not repay their depositors with money from those banks, or let the depositors retain their accounts. Britain and Holland robbed the depositors and the bankers when they took the banks, and in demanding Icelanders borrow the values of those assets to pay to them, they tried to rob the Icelanders, too.
This situation along with the Planck Foundation’s involvement makes the events of the last year look very strange: People who want to get hold of Iceland’s energy want Icelanders to believe they are saddled with terrible debts, so they hold the assets that could pay those debts away from Iceland as “collateral” in case Iceland does not repay the debts. Then, while doing this, they set up a loan deal to in fact double collect from Icelanders, with interest.
What the whole business of the last couple of years looks very much like is British and Dutch interests manipulating a crisis to scare Icelanders to giving up to them control of Iceland’s, as the Planck Foundation notes, considerable energy reserves. If you read in the Planck Foundation’s reports you may read there that Holland already has been developing plans to put a cable to Iceland to flow electricity from Iceland… All this a coincidence? Not planned?
You may be able to now understand why so many officials in Britain and Holland reacted so angrily to the President’s refusing to sign the bill that would have given the Planck Investors their score. A fantastic windfall to the Planck investors. All the mis-characterising the President’s action as Iceland reneging on its debts, also was part of the campaign, an attempt to stir animosity against Iceland, to pressure Icelanders to go back to the deal, to show they meant no such thing, by giving the temporarily thwarted thieves what they want in the referenduum…
Iceland’s energy, with its population’s technical skill levels to go with it, is a very, very rich prize for whoever ends up owning it. It should be iceland who ends up owning it, but it very nearly became foreign investors’, who almost succeeded in panicking the government to take their deal, who may yet get it, if they are able to pull the deal off…
I think that the “energy for debt” concept is an excellent idea! Could indeed lead to a win / win situation for all parties concerned.
why should iceland pay? hunt those head of icelandic banks who corrupted the money and those owners who use your invested money for their own. know first the difference of public and private :-)
I agree with the scepticism expressed by some other posters.
After all, it is quite attractive to make a quick buck by doing an expensive ‘feasability study’out of which nothing will come.
Especially after the failure of the Copenhagen conference ‘consultants’ specializing in ‘the environment’ need new markets.
Correct remark by Ingolby: what big projects have been performed by The Planck foundation so far?
The idea is a good one but it will take enormous investments and an incredible amount of know-how. There is nothing to indicate that the Planck foundation has managed to acomplish anything like this before.
Moreover I think it is deceptive that they are using a name that is very similar to the world famous german Max Plancke foundation.
A big problem for Iceland is to keep away from all fools that are attracted by possibility of quick fame and money.
BTW using the name of a famous German research institute is an unfair practice. The Web site of the real Max Planck society is: http://www.mpg.de/
Potential solution.Everybody stand up and leave the country now.Tomorow will be to late.
It is an intriguing idea. Attaching Icelands renewable energy supply to a power grid via the Faores, Shetlands and Britain.
It has been considered before, but the cost and engineering challenges are very serious.
What actual feasibility study has the ‘Planck Foundation’ carried out?
Energy for debt is certainly a very smart deed.
But how to deliver the geothermol energy out of the country, has the solution been found yet?
It is good to find alternative olutions to benefit all.
“Energy for Debt”
How is this different from selling off your assets? Why can’t Iceland develope this energy themselves with the money they save by not paying the so called “debt”?
A very interesting idea, not just for the period of the crisis but for the long-term benefit of Iceland.
It would of course require the laying of the world’s longest undersea power cable.
[…] Read the rest here: Energy for debts: a potential solution for Iceland? | IceNews … […]
Yeah It could be connected to the planed North sea grid. But in order to create revenues to pay back the debt, the project has to be of high power ratings. So we are talking about ~1000 miles underwater high-power rating cables. That alone will cost billions. Add the power plants costs and I’m not sure the break-even will be somewhere in the near future.
Furthermore, such huge energy projects require stability or military presence. Stability in Iceland is not granted and the second option sucks.
And I really hate to see big power plants destroying the beautiful Icelandic scenery.
I don’t know, I just don’t like the idea. It’s much better to spread the repayment to a bigger time frame with lower interest rates…
To Planck Foundation, Gijs B. Graafland,
Thank you for your efforts to make a very good and solid statement regarding Iceland, and to make a plan for the Icelandic people to stay proud and not to be kicked down.
A very good peace of work and it gives Iceland the opportunity to get out of this situation. The whole story is focused on using there own wealth that is under there feet and stored in there own country. The just have to harvest it with the good plan, together with honest companies (?).
Minister Wouter Bos from the Netherlands is trying to divert the focus from his own mistakes to Iceland and lets not talk about the mistakes of Nout Wellink from the Dutch National Bank. They let it happen and turned there head the other way, and now they blame it all on Iceland. They think it is better to kick a small country then stand up against the big ones. They knew what was happining in 2008 and 2009 but they where keeping their mouth shut, and now the can put the blame on Iceland.
Let them adopt this plan and they all Win by it. And then we have made a good friend (Iceland) where we can go to for our holidays and they can come to use and enjoy the Netherlands. And then whole world can take a lesson from it that it is better to find a solution for the better than to smak each other on the face. One time maybe Holland will once be in the same position, and who will help us then?? Not to rob us from the last euro but to help us to get on our feet!
With regards
Paull R. Daemen
MediBizz BV
daemen@medibizz.nl
And what is the Planck Foundation? Attempts to find out via the links at the bottom of their home page result in a “You don’t have permission to access … on this server”. Even the media materials! Is it, for example, related to the Max Planck Foundation?…
Note to that foundation: “loosing” is a common misspelling of “losing”.