Iceland’s ice melts rapidly, hydroelectric power generation rises
Melting glaciers are bringing green energy benefits to Iceland, but for how long?
privacy policy REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Few countries can match Iceland when it comes to renewable energy. The island nation gets nearly 100% of its electricity from green sources, and it is promoting the use of both geothermal and hydroelectric power.
This makes Iceland a model for the world on how to combat climate change. Ironically, as the world gets warmer, Iceland’s power grid will only get stronger.
The reason? Hydroelectric power. Or more precisely, melting glaciers.
Supporting science journalism
If you enjoyed this article, please support our award-winning journalism. Subscribe. By purchasing a subscription, you help ensure a future of influential stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping the world today.
Iceland Over 70 percent Half of the electricity comes from hydroelectric plants powered by meltwater from glaciers, and as the planet warms and glaciers melt faster, hydroelectric plants will have more water to spin their turbines and provide electricity to the grid — a positive sign for the country. Lamenting the decline of glaciers.
“As the glaciers melt, hydroelectric production will increase,” Guðlaugur Thor Thordarson, Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate, told E&E News in an interview. “We have everything to become a green energy mecca, and that is our goal.”
Climate change is already making a difference.
Nearly all of Iceland’s glaciers have been losing mass since the 1990s, leading to increased hydroelectric inflows that have been “largely harnessed” by the country’s electricity system. Reportedly Announced by the European Union.
Locals are also aware of the potential.
“We expect a lot more water to flow over the next 100 years,” said Guðmundur Finnbogason, project manager at state-owned power company Landsvirkunde.
“Hydroelectric plants literally produce gold for us,” Finnbogason said during a tour of the Ílafoss power station, about 30 miles from Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.
However, the benefits of power come with two potential pitfalls.
The first is energy waste. A group from the Arctic University of Norway found that power plants at full capacity Bypass excess water It’s a waste of potential electricity.
Energy Minister Thordarson acknowledged the missed opportunity.
“We’ve been a little complacent,” he said. “We haven’t done a lot in the last 15, 20 years, both in terms of hydroelectricity and geothermal energy.”
But, he added, “things are moving very quickly right now.”
The state-run power company plans to build more turbines to capture excess water caused by the weather. Glacial runoff is expected to peak in 40 to 50 years. “We’re investing to be able to take advantage of the increased glacial runoff,” said Hórður Arnarsson, CEO of Landsvirkkun. The second, and more existential, problem for Iceland is what to do if its glaciers melt. An EU report warns that “very little of Iceland’s glaciers will remain in 2200.” While this is a bleak long-term outlook, the prediction is in line with the second, more optimistic, prediction. Icelandic Meteorological Office Project Rainfall is projected to increase by 1.2 to 4.3 percent by the middle of this century, mainly due to the effects of climate change. So even if the glaciers disappear, “we can expect to have more water available for power plants than we had at the beginning,” Landsvirkunde CEO Arnarson said. But more rain in the future is not certain, and scientists caution that it’s difficult to predict what the climate will be like in 2200, more than 150 years in the future. Ocean currents For example, the factors that increase Iceland’s rainfall may disappear or slow significantly by then. This uncertainty is why Þórðarson is considering shifting Iceland’s electricity grid from a reliance on hydro and geothermal to include wind, solar, tidal and solar power. The power of rain“If something happens, and it happens in the near or distant future, we always have a Plan B,” Þórðarson said. “We can’t put all our eggs in the same basket.”
Source E&E News Posted with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2024. E&E News delivers news that matters to energy and environmental professionals.
