UK’s Energy minister, Charles Hendry, is to visit Iceland next month to discuss the prospects of connecting homes, businesses and industries in the UK to power produced from the vast geothermal energy resources in Iceland. He will also be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to commence feasibility studies.
Due to its peculiar geographical location and the abundance of volcanoes, Iceland has the most abundant underground heat resources in the world. Geothermal energy and hydropower provides over 80% of the country’s energy. All of the geothermal heat is obtained from meters beneath the earth’s surface. It is this same resource that politicians and engineers in the UK are hoping to import to their shores. Iceland has five major geothermal plants that produce heat for about 87% of its buildings. In 2004, the total amount of geothermal energy in Iceland was approximately 79.7 petajoules (PJ), about 54% of the total national energy consumption. Only 0.1% of the country’s electricity is produced from fossil fuels.
It is argued that UK electricity bills are among the highest in Europe and its government says it is making a conscious effort to reverse this.
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