| Title | Low Temperature Geothermal Fields Utilized for District Heating in Reykjavik, Iceland |
|---|---|
| Authors | Einar Gunnlaugsson, Gestur Gislason, Gretar Ivarsson and Snorri Pall Kjaran |
| Year | 2000 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | geothermal, district heating, monitoring, Reykjavik |
| Abstract | The district heating in Reykjavik utilizes three low temperature geothermal fields two of which, Laugarnes and Ellidaar are located within the city limits, but the third, Reykir lies some 20 km northeast of Reykjavik. Exploitation of the Laugarnes field began in 1930 by pumping 14 l/s of 87?C water from wells and surface springs. Water from Reykir field was first piped to Reykjavik in 1943 and exploitation of the Ellidaar field began in 1968. Initially only artesian flow from springs and relatively shallow drill holes was used for district heating in Reykjavik but in the sixties and early seventies deep production wells were drilled in all the fields and downhole pumps installed, multiplying the flowrate from the fields. The pumping has lowered waterlevel and geothermal surface manifestations have disappeared. With reduced pumping in the later years the waterlevel rose again and equilibrium has been attained indicating that the geothermal energy is sustainable. The geological settings of these low temperature geothermal fields, their size and boundaries are described. Extensive monitoring programme of the exploitation has been carried out for the last decades and records have been kept on fluid production, fluid temperature, water level variation and fluid chemistry. The field data has been incorporated into numerical simulation models, which are used to predict changes in waterlevel and chemistry. |