ENERGY IN ICELAND - Orkustofnun

4 ENERGY usePrimary energy use ininternational contextBy international comparison, the energyuse in Iceland is in a class by itself. Percapita energy consumption is amongthe highest known and the proportionof this, provided by renewable energysources, is greater than in other countries.Nowhere else does geothermalenergy play a greater role in a nation’senergy supply, as Iceland is among thosenations with the highest relative utilizationof this energy resource. In additionto geothermal energy, Iceland’s energysupply is based on hydro power and importedfossil fuels. The share of domesticrenewable energy sources has grownsignificantly in recent decades and in2005 amounted to over 71% of totalenergy consumption. Table 1 shows theconsumption of primary energy in Iceland2005.In 2005, primary energy consumptionamounted to about 500 GJ per capita,which ranks among the highest in theworld. There are a number of reasons forthis, in particular, the high proportionof electricity used in Iceland’s power intensiveindustry, and substantial energyconsumption for fishing and transportation.In addition, more energy is requiredfor space heating than in most othercountries due to the cold climate.Calculatingprimary energyAccording to standard calculating methods, primaryenergy consumed in producing electricity from geothermalenergy is ten times the electricity produced,which means that the efficiency of the generation process is 10% if no heat is returned tothe geothermal reservoir by injection of the effluent water. When electricity is generatedby hydropower, however, primary energy is calculated as equal to the electricity generated.This shows that primary energy does not necessarily give an accurate picture of howmuch energy is generated by power plants. When geothermal energy is utilized directlyfor heating, as for instance in district heating utilities, there are no international standardmethods for calculating primary energy. In Iceland, primary energy has been calculated asthe energy extracted by cooling the water to 15°C.18