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Iceland generates all of its electricity from geothermal and hydro-energy sources, with a total capacity of 50 terawatt hours per year. Currently less than 30 percent of that capacity is being used. The Icelandic government has declared its intention to free itself of oil imports for automotive and fishing fleet usage by using the surplus electrical energy to create hydrogen. “The long term aim is that renewable hydrogen fuel will replace fossil fuels, as soon as its becomes economically and technically possible,” says Valgerour Sverrisdottir, Iceland’s minister of Industry and Commerce.
A geothermal electrical plant in Iceland As such, Iceland presents great potential as an incubator for the hydrogen economy. In a sense it is a test case for the hydrogen fuel from geothermal energy model, an example that could be echoed around the world, from the Philippines to California’s Mojave Desert. Burns stresses that geothermal energy is just one strand in the hydrogen pathways scenario. “If you add up all the geothermal energy currently available it is still a relatively small blip relative to the amount of petroleum that’s being consumed. But please keep in mind there is not just one replacement for petroleum, there are several. The answer is going to depend on local circumstances and that allows local economies to play to their strengths.” |
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