ISOR celebrating 10th anniversary based on history of 60 years

ISOR Website snapshot

Alexander Richter 22 May 2013

Iceland GeoSurvey (ÍSOR) is celebrating its 10th anniversary on May 23, 2013 with an anniversary conference in Reykjavik, Iceland.

While founded only in July of 2003, the agency can trace its history back to 1946 with the foundation of the National Energy Authority of Iceland and specifically to the foundation of a specific geothermal division in 1956.

Iceland GeoSurvey is a self-financing, state-owned, non-profit institution. It receives no direct funding from the government and operates on a project and contract basis like a private company.

Iceland GeoSurvey was established 2003, when the GeoScience Division of Orkustofnun, the National Energy Authority of Iceland, was spun off as a separate entity. It is based on six decades of continuous experience in the field of geothermal and hydropower research and development. During this period Iceland GeoSurvey have provided consulting, training, and scientific services to the Icelandic power industry and the Icelandic government, and to numerous foreign companies and governments all over the world. Although our focus is on geothermal exploration, development, and utilization, our experience covers many other geoscience-related fields as well, including groundwater studies, marine geology, and environmental monitoring.

The foundation of ISOR was founded on the legal opinion that research and development should be separated from the supervision of the energy market, transmission and distribution. With the new legislation, the government owned entity, Iceland GeoSurvey (ÍSOR) was founded and allowed more freedom for consulting engagements and research in energy, energy resources and environmental issues. ÍSOR has since been run as a non-profit agency financed by the sale of research and services, as well as research grants.

The new National Energy Authority for Iceland was founded in 1967 with the role of providing advice to the government on energy issues, as well as to provide energy research particularly on geothermal energy and the utilization of hydro resources. At the same time the Authority has engaged in research on geothermal becoming not only the country’s predominant geothermal center of research but one of the most well known geothermal research agencies in the world

In 1997 the Research Division of the National Energy Authority was established, which was later split into two different groups. Both have been run without funding and had to essentially self-fund their work and research activities. The main clients have been the the energy authorities in the country, energy companies, municipalities and research funds. With this set up legal requirements were fulfilled for a separation of commercial activities to provide a competitive market environment.

Then in July 2003, ÍSOR was founded under a new energy legislation and celebrates its 10th anniversary tomorrow, May 23, 2013.

Source: ÍSOR