Conference on geothermal energy research.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Education and science are important aspects of the governments plan for rebuilding Iceland’s economy. Emphasis has been placed on research funds, which are important for the advance of science and technology in Iceland. We have to look to future potential and obligations in the rebuilding process. As the Minister of industry and energy, with innovation in my portfolio, I welcome the opportunity to address you at this conference on geothermal energy research in connection with the kick-off meeting of the GEOthermal Research Group (GEORG).
For the last decades the importance of renewable energy has been increasing, due to concerns regarding climate change and security of energy supply. Many countries have set ambitious targets regarding the share of renewable energy in their energy mix. For an example the European Union has set an overall target for the member states that 20 percent of energy shall be derived from renewable sources in 2020.
One could say that Iceland is in a league of its own when it comes to renewable energy, with virtually all electricity produced by hydro and geothermal and nearly all our houses heated with hot water from geothermal resources or green electricity. Only 20% of our needs is met with imported fossil fuel, mainly for our fishing fleet and transport. The government is fully committed in continuing to utilise renewable resources in an responsible manner to replace fossil fuel. According to the Government Coalition Platform a comprehensive energy strategy will be formulated, aimed at having renewable energy sources replace imported energy. The energy strategy will support diversified industry, emphasising the development of ecologically beneficial high-tech industry. The energy strategy will aim at sustainable utilisation, avoiding for instance aggressive utilisation of geothermal areas.
Our energy situation is the result of hard work by pioneers which have through the years taken on bigger and bigger projects in the field of renewable energy, bot in construction and research projects, such as Icelandic Deep Drilling Project. There are also new challenges to confront and we should combine our efforts in alternative fuels.
But besides the obvious benefits of having the majority of our energy demand met by energy from domestic renewable resources their work has created other possibilities. The knowledge and experience in utilising renewable resource is in high demand. Since 1979 the United Nations Geothermal Training Programme has been operated in Iceland. Through that we have shared our knowledge with scientists from all over the world. More recently Iceland became a founding party to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). 98 States have signed the Statute of the Agency, amongst them 37 African, 31 European, 21 Asian and 9 Latin-American countries.
The interest in renewable energy has also been clear at company level. Icelandic know-how in renewable energy is in demand and Icelandic companies are participating in energy projects all over the world.
Ladies and gentlemen.
The vision of GEORG is to be an international leader in geothermal energy research. The objectives are to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions by contributing to significant increase in sustainable energy production/utilization from geothermal sources and make Iceland a case study for near energy independent and carbon neutral society. It will also create a platform for entrepreneurship and export for geothermal energy resources and education.
I would like to conclude by congratulating all the participants of GEORG and conway my best wishes for the project in the future. The case for renewable energy is a compelling one. We have tried to contribute by highlighting the huge potential of geothermal energy, which we feel has to some extent been unsung, underused and overlooked. What we have to offer is almost a century of experience, proven methods and new technical breakthroughs that in future may drastically enhance the geothermal yield in some countries at least, and unchallenged leadership in terms of experienced and educated manpower. I feel that the vision and the objectives of GEORG are well justified. We can contribute when it comes to geothermal energy and with partners from other countries we can pave the way for geothermal energy on the international stage.