Iceland’s biggest geothermal CHP
The Hellisheidi geothermal power plant is a combined heat and power plant (CHP) located on one of the largest wet geothermal systems in Iceland. Development plans will turn Hellsheidi into the largest geothermal combined heat and power plant in Iceland within 2010.
40 years of expertise. Based in Reykjavik Mannvit is a key player in Iceland's geothermal development.
The plant’s purpose is to meet increasing demand for electricity and hot water for space heating. Development plans call for incremental or phased expansion from 2006 to 2010 to an estimated maximum output of 300 MWe and 400 MWth, thus making it the largest geothermal combined heat and power plant in Iceland.
Harnessing power
In the design phase, four different technical solutions for the plant’s hardware were examined. All were centered on a plant that would produce electricity and hot water. The latent heat of condensation will be used to heat cold water for the hot water utility. The excess heat from this process would be released into the atmosphere through a cooling tower. With a larger processing area, not all the separator water (geothermal fluid) is needed to produce hot water. In this case, a low-pressure engine is added into the process. The separator water is allowed to boil at 120°C. This creates a low-pressure steam at 2 bars, which can be used to produce electricity.
Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant details:
- Combined heat and power (CHP)
- Planned total output: 300MWe & 400MWth
- Phase 1: 2 x 45 MWe (90 MW total) went online October, 2006
- Phase 2: 33 MWe went online Fall, 2007
- Phase 3: 2 x 45 MWe, went online Fall, 2008
- Phase 4: First stage thermal power plant scheduled for 2010
- Phase 5: 2 x 45 MWe, scheduled for 2010
- 50 boreholes were drilled, from 1,000-2,200 meters
About Mannvit
Mannvit is a leader in geothermal energy and the largest engineering firm in Iceland with more than 40 years of experience. The company has been a key player in Iceland's geothermal development and has also been involved in numerous geothermal projects worldwide. Mannvit offers a full range of services in all disciplines of geothermal energy development and district heating.
Visit the Mannvit web site
Key figures:
2008 Turnover: 60 million USD
400 employees
10 branch offices - nine in Iceland and one in Hungary
Employee owned
Founded 1963 in Reykjavik, Iceland
Related Articles
Iceland: An abundance of hydro and geothermal energy
Cheap, clean energy has made Iceland the perfect location for heavy industry. Still, even with one of the highest energy consumptions per capita in the world, Iceland has not yet exploited all its ren
Big in China
Iceland-based geothermal energy company Enex build district heating in China together with Chinese Sinopec Star.
GEORG-GEOthermal
GEORG is an international Geothermal research Group meant to increase the number of qualified experts in geothermal research, engineering, design and technical exploitation of the resource.
