LANDSVIRKJUN wants to develop joint wind and marine turbine systems

Iceland

REYKJAVIK - (Iceland) - 16/06/2011 - 3B Conseils and Marine Renewable Energy Ltd
By Francis Rousseau 
Landsvirkjun, the Icelandic national electricity generator that supplies 74% of that country's electricity needs, plans to double its capacity over the next 15 years. To achieve that the national comapny will rely mainly on renewable energy sources, specifically hydro-electric power stations, and geothermal stations, already in extensive use, but also on and off-shore wind farms (the ICEWIND project), and on tidal stream energy. The development of wind and tidal stream energy systems are the subject of a shared  research program, since Iceland considers beneficial the use of twin systems .

Icelandic Meteorogical Office, Iceland University and Landsnet are involved in this research program , planned to be complete in August 2014 in three main phases:

• studying ice build-up on wnd turbines
• introduction and development of an Icelandic on-shore wind farm
• development of offshore wind power

According to Ingolfur Orn Thorbjornssonof the' Innovation Centre Iceland (ICI), quoted in an InterPress report: "The exploitation of tidal stream energy may be exploitable in the coming five to ten years."  Research is already underway discreetly in in the West Fiors region of Iceland and a prototype is under manufacture with the support of ICI, says the report. It is known that Landsvirkjun has alrady examined  the possibility of building an underwater cable  that would link Iceland and Northern Europe with a view to exporting the electriciyt produced by its geothermal and hydroelectric power stations. This export project could be extended to other renewable energy sources. It should be noted that another underwater cable project to link Iceland, Northern Europe, and North America. The project is managed by NORDUnet(Nordic National Research and Education Networks), the Canadian company CANARIE (Canada's Advanced Research and Innovation Network) and the multi-national NSF GLORIAD based in the USA. This project known by the nake of ICELINK is presented as "permitting scientists connected to NORDUnet to take advantage of the geothermal and renewable energu sources of Iceland"


Landsvirkjun currently operates 16 power stations in Iceland of which 13 are hydro-electric, 2 geo-thermal, and 1 fossil fuel powered.


Sources : Sites mentionned and linked. Photo : Iceland Scenery © Landsvirkjun

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