Even if Icelander’s do decide to take the environmental route in order to prevent further expansion in the domestic energy sector, they will still have an overflowing surplus of geothermal energy, available for foreign consumption. Iceland must learn from its previous mistakes involving hydropower and geothermal energy in the aluminum sector. In recent decades, Iceland has sought to exploit its geothermal resources by welcoming various aluminum producers, like Rio Tinto and Alcoa, to its shores. These efforts have not panned out how the Icelandic people would have hoped.
Currently, a handful of these large aluminum processing plants absorb more than 70% of electricity generated in Iceland. The Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant, located in Reyðarfjördur town in East Iceland, is the largest power plant in Iceland and supports Alcoa’s Fjardaál aluminum smelter. The production of the facility, which was funded by Landsvirkjun, has come under criticism for environmental reasons and has also been protested due to the fact that about 70% of the facility’s workforce consisted of foreign employees. The original reports in 2002, at the time of the landmark deal, estimated 1,000 new jobs for the Eastern Icelanders, however, actual figures have fallen dramatically short of those figures.
It seems as if Iceland was so desperate to utilize its surplus of energy, it went to unnecessary lengths to convince large companies like Rio Tinto and Alcoa to set up shop in their country. Iceland gave these foreign companies a very generous deal and failed to capitalize on the job creation and additional income the aluminum projects were projected to bring in domestically. It was explained by Sam Knight, a journalist for Truthout, by explaining that the agreement with the Aluminum producers forced …Icelanders to accept whatever plan Alcoa dropped in their laps rather than collaborate to explore alternatives.
Time to take action
Ultimately, I believe Iceland can make use of its natural resources much more efficiently by completing the submarine cable and weaning off of its dependence on the aluminum market. The next step is pushing forward the intercontinental cable talks, putting in place the financing plan and actually breaking ground on the construction. The constructing of the cable would create domestic jobs and the completion of the cable would finally provide Iceland with an economically beneficial outcome to its geothermal surplus. The project would take 4 years to complete and would provide England with a gigawatt of power.
Furthermore, it would provide England with a Green alternative to its current system, not only filling the void of nuclear power, but also providing additional energy that could lower the average electricity bill. The transmission operator for electricity and gas in the UK, likes the project, describing it as Technically feasible…Politically achievable…Commercially viable. Therefore, lets surge into this new era of green energy with a mutually beneficial project that will help both, Iceland and the UK, in an effort to forge a environmentally advantageous option for Europe's energy market.
Going Green; How Iceland’s Geothermal Surplus Could Shape the UK Energy Market.
Chapter 3
Even if Icelander’s do decide to take the environmental route in order to prevent further expansion in the domestic energy sector, they will still have an overflowing surplus of geothermal energy, available for foreign consumption. Iceland must learn from its previous mistakes involving hydropower and geothermal energy in the aluminum sector. In recent decades, Iceland has sought to exploit its geothermal resources by welcoming various aluminum producers, like Rio Tinto and Alcoa, to its shores. These efforts have not panned out how the Icelandic people would have hoped.
Currently, a handful of these large aluminum processing plants absorb more than 70% of electricity generated in Iceland. The Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant, located in Reyðarfjördur town in East Iceland, is the largest power plant in Iceland and supports Alcoa’s Fjardaál aluminum smelter. The production of the facility, which was funded by Landsvirkjun, has come under criticism for environmental reasons and has also been protested due to the fact that about 70% of the facility’s workforce consisted of foreign employees. The original reports in 2002, at the time of the landmark deal, estimated 1,000 new jobs for the Eastern Icelanders, however, actual figures have fallen dramatically short of those figures.
It seems as if Iceland was so desperate to utilize its surplus of energy, it went to unnecessary lengths to convince large companies like Rio Tinto and Alcoa to set up shop in their country. Iceland gave these foreign companies a very generous deal and failed to capitalize on the job creation and additional income the aluminum projects were projected to bring in domestically. It was explained by Sam Knight, a journalist for Truthout, by explaining that the agreement with the Aluminum producers forced …Icelanders to accept whatever plan Alcoa dropped in their laps rather than collaborate to explore alternatives.
Time to take action
Ultimately, I believe Iceland can make use of its natural resources much more efficiently by completing the submarine cable and weaning off of its dependence on the aluminum market. The next step is pushing forward the intercontinental cable talks, putting in place the financing plan and actually breaking ground on the construction. The constructing of the cable would create domestic jobs and the completion of the cable would finally provide Iceland with an economically beneficial outcome to its geothermal surplus. The project would take 4 years to complete and would provide England with a gigawatt of power.
Furthermore, it would provide England with a Green alternative to its current system, not only filling the void of nuclear power, but also providing additional energy that could lower the average electricity bill. The transmission operator for electricity and gas in the UK, likes the project, describing it as Technically feasible…Politically achievable…Commercially viable. Therefore, lets surge into this new era of green energy with a mutually beneficial project that will help both, Iceland and the UK, in an effort to forge a environmentally advantageous option for Europe's energy market.
