| Abstract |
Commercial exploitation of geothermal resources in Iceland dates back to the 1920ís. The first district heating system, in the capital Reykjavik, began operation on a small scale in 1930 with the heating of a few buildings including a school house and a public swimming h a l l. The water, 15 kg/s, 93íC, was taken from shallow wells in what is now known as the Laugarnes field, which was at that time outside the town. In the 1940ís the Reykjavik heating system was expanded considerably utilizing water is s u in g from wells less than 600 m deep in the Reykir geothermal field about 17 km away from the town. Rapid development followed, especially after the impetus given by the increase in o i l price s during the 1970ís. The main emphasis w a s on space heating, but other uses began to emerge at the same time. In 1976 the diatomite plant at M$vatn began operation using steam from the Nimafjall field for drying. In 1969 a small non-condensing turbine was set up in the same place for generation of electricity. And about 1974 work started on the Krafla parer plant which was to consist of two 30 lrlw units, of which only one has been operating yet. A t the Svartsengi field which is used mainly for d i strict heating, three small electric genera t in g units of 8 MW total capacity have been installed. For more details on the utilization of geothermal energy the reader is referred to Gudmundsson (1982, 1983). |