Iceland exporting geothermal expertise

Oct 20, 2010 - UPI

Iceland's economy, on the rocks since the bank collapse of 2008, has one bright spot, experts say -- the country is making money off of geothermal energy.

It's doing so by selling its expertise in the field around the world, talking with countries including China and India about contracts for projects to tap geothermal energy, and is looking at countries in Africa and Latin America, Inter Press Service reported.

Katrin Juliusdottir, Iceland's minister for industry, hosted Indian Energy Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah in September to discuss cooperation between the two countries in geothermal energy.

At the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson talked geothermal energy projects with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, and the two signed an agreement on digging for geothermal energy in Inner Mongolia.

The state-owned Iceland GeoSurvey or ISOR has extensive experience with the technology. Established in 1945 as part of the country's National Energy Authority, it has worked on geothermal projects in more than 40 countries.

"In Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti, ISOR has carried out geothermal exploration and related activities, while it has also carried out well testing in Germany, numerical modeling in China and capacity building within the governmental sector in Nicaragua," ISOR spokesperson Brynja Jonsdottir says.

A number of Icelandic geothermal energy companies are in discussion with countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Croatia and others, Inter Press Service said.