Breaking news: offshore geothermal license issued to North Tech Energy in Iceland

Reykjanestá, Southwest of Iceland (source: flickr/ Richard Gould, creative commons)

Alexander Richter 23 Apr 2017

In exciting news on Friday, Icelandic energy authority Orku­stofn­un has issued for the first time an offshore geothermal research and exploration license. These are great news and an achievement of the company behind it. Congratulations to North Tech Energy.

The licenses are issued for two offshore areas on the sea­bed. One of the license areas is located in the southwest of Reykja­nestá (off the tip of the Reykjanes peninsula near the capital of Iceland Reykjavik and likely with similar resource characteristics than the geothermal operations of HS Orka onshore at Reykjanes and Svartsengi.  The other license area is  the north between Trölla­skaga and Mel­raka­slétt­ur, between two peninsulas in northern Iceland between the fjords of Eyjafjörður and Skagafjörður.

The purpose of of the license and related work is to gather in­formati­on if these offshore high-tem­pera­t­ure areas can be assessed for energy producti­on. The initial goal is to look for attracti­ve areas for electricity generati­on, and then take a step fur­t­her in rese­arch work in the second quart­er.

The licen­se issu­ed by the Nati­onal Energy Aut­ho­rity provi­des North Tech Energy ehf. pri­o­rity for utilizati­on rights for electricity generati­on for two ye­ars af­ter the formal expirati­on date of the se­arch licen­se has expired. “These are complete primary studies that are due to start next year,” says Skúli Thorodd­sen, lawyer at the En­vironment Agency, to local paper Morgunbladid, yesterday. 

We expect to publish more details and an interview with the CEO of North Tech Energy, Geir Hagalínsson soon. So stay tuned.

Source: MBL.is