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Svartsengi’s plant in Iceland has been in operation for decades and continues to build on its legacy as the facility’s electric power and hot water production supports new business and provides a remarkable example of the strength of renewable energy.
Power plants are vital to local communities and are the backbone of a regional economy, with homes and businesses relying on electric power produced through a facility.
In Iceland, the country’s geothermal force plants a national economy, bringing innovation to electric power generation and encouraging the progress of new industries. A perfect example is Svartsengi (Figure 1), a geothermal force plant that was launched more than 40 years ago and continues to evolve. It supplies electricity and hot water, serving as a heating formula for the population of the Reykjanes Peninsula. The Svartsengi Resource Park includes several corporations that use the resources of the power plant, adding the famous Blue Lagoon Spa, as well as cosmetic manufacturers, biotechnology corporations and aquaculture corporations.
The park also supported the production of green methanol, in a procedure where carbon emissions from the power plant were captured and converted into green methanol, a low-carbon fuel that can be made from biomass gasification or renewable electric power and captured carbon dioxide. Svartsengi’s importance to an entire country, just its local community, and its prestige as a state-of-the-art resource park make the facility worthy of the POWER Top Plant award for renewable energy.
“Geothermal energy has had a significant effect on Iceland, either economically and contributing to a better quality of life,” said Dagný Jónsdóttir, director of Resource Park. “During the twentieth century, Iceland went from being one of the poorest countries in Europe, dependent on imported coal as an energy source, to a country with a superior popular life and where virtually all desktop energy comes from domestic renewable resources. This reduces economic exposure to external energy markets.
“For years, Svartsengi has been a style for Iceland’s other two geothermal stations, as well as a style for the multiple use of resource flows from geothermal force generation,” Jónsdóttir said. communities through the supply of critical infrastructure, such as heating, blank water and a solid power supply. “
Jónsdóttir pointed out that geothermal energy “is basically used for area heating and electricity generation, nine out of 10 families are heated with geothermal energy [the rest comes basically from hydroelectric energy]. This also allows for other amenities such as year-round heated pools. . and sports fields, streets and heated parking areas during the snowy winter. Several industries have also taken hold in Iceland thanks to geothermal energy, for example, certain types of fish farming and onshore greenhouses, industries that would not exist here without the geothermal energy source.
Yngvi Guðmundsson, Svartsengi’s chief engineer, said the plant was built in six phases. The first phase, a 50 MW thermal unit, commissioned in 1977, has not yet been dismantled. Phase II, a 110 MW thermal unit, came online in 1980, as well as Phase III, which has a power generation capacity of 6 MW.
Phase IV, an 8 MW power supply unit, commissioned in 1989. Phase V, with a thermal capacity of 80 MW and a force capacity of 30 MW, began operations in 1999. Phase VI commissioned in 2008, offering 30 MW of power generation capacity.
Guðmundsson said Svartsengi’s generation comes from its Phase III to Phase VI units. Phase III is a reverse voltage turbine (from 6 bar to 1. 2 bar) from Fuji Electric Japan. Phase IV is a Rankine 7x organic cycle turbine (ORC) from Ormat (1. 2 bar input strain steam from the tailing unit).
Phase V is an unmarried flash condensing steam turbine from Fuji Electric Japan (6. 5 bara input). Phase VI, Guðmundsson said, is an “unmarried turbine consisting of a 10 MW (15. 5 bar to 6. 5 bar) rear turbine and a 20 MW condensing turbine (6. 5 bar inlet) in the same turbine rotor.
“Each phase had its own concentrate and they were usually very different,” Guðmundsson said. “The first two stages had the great objective of offering hot water to neighboring communities, which at that time depended on coal and fuel oil for heating. The third phase, a counter-voltage steam turbine, which allowed HS Orka [the plant operator] to generate electrical power as well. The fourth phase is the result of efforts to optimize resource flows, where less direct steam is needed to heat, which in turn can be used in the ORC unit to generate more electrical power.
“The fifth phase is a direct expansion of the geothermal reservoir with new wells and a way to meet long-term hot water demands as surrounding communities grew rapidly,” Guðmundsson said. “The turbine installed in the fifth phase is a combined heat and power unit, where the cooling of the unit serves as preheating of the water for the production of hot water. The sixth phase, a level of optimization where the long-term benefit obtained through the use of the geothermal resource allowed for further expansion with a new 30 MW unit.
Guðmundsson told POWER: “Lately, HS Orka is making plans for a new phase of rehabilitation and expansion, where the old [Phases III and IV] assemblies will be dismantled, and the use of steam and brine will be further optimized into a new, more effective turbine.
Jónsdóttir and Guðmundsson said Svartsengi has been pushing hard for studies and progress within HS Orka, resulting in continuous innovations for the plant and its operations.
“This not only resulted in further optimization of the plant, but also in the creation of the resource park, which is a sign of the entrepreneurial spirit within HS Orka,” said Jónsdóttir. “The surplus resources come from the production of electrical energy. and there is a call from corporations to use those resources, an opportunity to be located next to a power plant and have a contribution in their operations, so that our ‘te’ becomes a price for those corporations. It is a concept that has been emerging for years and a little ahead of its time, as an example of circular economy and commercial symbiosis.
Jónsdóttir said that the svartsengi and Reykjanes geothermal strength plants form Iceland’s only resource park, however, “other corporations also use the resources of their geothermal strength plants. ON Power operates a geothermal park that uses various resource streams from the Hellisheiði force plant, and Landsvirkjun [the national force company] lately uses geothermal resources from its force plants in corporations.
Resource Park in Svartsengi supports several corporations with its electric power generation and hot water, adding Blue Lagoon, a prominent spa in the medical community. The geothermal seawater of the lagoon in the treatment of skin disease.
“There’s a lot of interest around what we’re doing from outside Iceland,” said Fannar Jónsson, Head of Quality and Environment at Blue Lagoon. “Geothermal energy is much greener and other people turn to us to help them find development, sustainable development answers. It’s about “How can we use this resource as successfully as possible?”
“It’s wonderful to be part of the resource park and take credit for the power plant for our electric power outlet and hot water intake,” Jónsson said. “We need to be carbon-neutral when it comes to our operations. carbon for flights, for the buses of our workers and guests, we offset [carbon] for the shipment of our products. Blue Lagoon is a perfect example of a circular economy.
Blue Lagoon, in addition to providing its spa treatments, is also known as a wellness company that manufactures skin care products. We produce soaps and bath salts, and everything we produce is natural. Our products combine the purity of nature and the powers of science,” said Jónsson, who noted that the spa’s products are based on the main bioactive elements of geothermal seawater: silica, algae and minerals.
“Svartsengi has been a local leader in implementing the mindset of treating waste as a price with its resource park,” said Kamma Thordarson, allocation manager for Green through Iceland, an organization that supports Iceland’s renewable energy initiatives. “This is increasingly vital because there is a desire to move to a more circular form of all resources. “
Jónsdóttir, highlighting svartsengi’s importance for innovation in Iceland’s energy sector, now and in the future, told POWER: “Iceland is committed to being carbon neutral by 2040 at the latest and to being the first country to be independent of fossil fuels until then. “also. . “
Thordarson says: “Geothermal strength is imperative to Iceland’s economy and environmental purposes. The combination of geothermal and hydroelectric power in our force formula allows for one hundred percent renewable strength for home heating and power generation. While we focus on Iceland’s goal of carbon neutrality through 2040, this combination of forces gives us a sure advantage. An advantage, as Jónsson said, “to be studied in the rest of the world. “
—Darrell Proctor is associate editor of POWER (@POWERmagazine).
Owner/Operator: Akca Enerji Geothermal energy has long been hampered by its need for high-temperature resources to generate geothermal power.
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