The Icelandic hydrogen society

1
The Icelandic hydrogen society

• Hjalmar Arnason
• Member of the Icelandic Parliament

2
The background of the project

• Iceland possesses no fossil fuels
• except some peat reservoirs
• However compared to population Iceland possesses
  abundant energy resources
• The economically harnessable hydroenergy has been
  estimated at 30 TWh/yr of which only 15 has been
  harnessed.
• The harnessable geothermal energy has been
  estimated at 200 TWh/yr (thermal) (equivalant of
  20 TWh/yr electricity), of which 1 has been
  harnessed.

3
Type of energy used in Iceland
4
Energy consumed in Iceland by different activities
5
Greenhouse gas emission in Iceland

• Transport 33
• Fishing Industry 33
• Industry and other 33
• In total antropogenic CO2 emission (1995 values)
  
• 2.640.000 tonn

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Icelands dilemma

• According to the Kyoto agreement Iceland can
  increase its emissions by 10 from 90 levels
• Iceland has negotiated to
• erect new power intensive
• industries (metals) that
• increase the emissions more than 10
• Iceland has not signed the agreement

7
Icelands dilemma (cont.)

• All space heating is now geothermal (renewable
  energy)
• All electricity production is hydro/geothermal
  (renewable energy)
• Only way to reduce emission is by reducing the
  usage of fossil fuels

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Fuel cells help change the energy basis
The Past
The Present
The Future
The transition
is messy
The internal
combus
-
tion
engine led to the
oil industry
Product Performance
The fuel cell may
lead to the methanol /
hydrogen economy
Time
2020
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Using hydrogen/methanol vs fossil fuels, overall
emissions

• By using hydrogen on all vehicles it is possible
  to reduce Icelands overall greenhouse gas
  emissions 33 (methanol 18)
• By including also the fishing fleet reduction of
  overall emissions can be reduced to, by using
• hydrogen 66
• methanol 40

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Hydrogen production in Iceland

• Currently the production of hydrogen is 2000 tons
  annually in Iceland
• the hydrogen is used to produce ammonia for
  fertilizer production
• To power the whole
• transport and the
• fishing fleet it would
• require 33000 tons of hydrogen

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Methanol production in Iceland

• Metals industries in Iceland (aluminum,
  ferrosilicon, etc) emitt 618.000 tons of CO and
  CO2 annually
• This amount mixed with hydrogen can make 450.000
  tons of methanol
• If these 450.000 tons methanol could replace some
  400.000-450.000 tons of fossil fuel which is more
  than 60 of the total imports, total greenhouse
  gas emissions from Iceland could be cut 55

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Methanol production in Iceland (cont.)

• Methanol production in Iceland is still far from
  reality, it is an option to be evaluated
• Some of the participants in the Icelandic venture
  have concerns regarding using methanol
• The critical issue is the evaluation of the
  toxity of methanol

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Hydrogen/methanol production in Iceland

• If hydrogen would be used directly on fuel cells
  powering all the vehicle and fishing fleet it
  would require
• 2,6 TWh/yr
• Around 5 of economically harnessable renewable
  energy in Iceland
• If methanol would be used instead of hydrogen
• 3,6 TWh/yr

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Icelandic New Energy Ltd.

• Is a joint-venture company owned by
• VistOrku hf (EcoEnergy)
• DaimlerChrysler AG
• Norsk Hydro ASA
• Shell Hydrogen BV
• Vistorka (EcoEnergy) is owned by Icelandic New
  Venture Fund, University of Iceland, IceTech,
  Fertilizer Plant, Suðurnes Regional Heating
  Corporation and Reykjavík Energy

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The purpose of the company

• Is to set up a joint venture company to
  investigate the potential for eventually
  replacing the use of fossil fuels in Iceland with
  hydrogen based fuels and create the worlds
  first hydrogen economy

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But why was Iceland chosen?

• Iceland has the unique circumstance that you can
  operate a hydrogen based fuel project in a CO2
  neutral environment
• Iceland has similar standards and transportation
  system as most other developed countries and
  therefore the results can easily be adapted
  elsewhere
• Iceland has experience in converting from one
  energy source to another

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But why was Iceland chosen? (cont.)

• It is very important that the project makes a big
  impact (real-scale project)
• The new technology needs to be evaluated under
  severe weather conditions
• The government of Iceland has announced that it
  is aiming to transform Iceland into a hydrogen
  society in the near future

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Transformation of Iceland into a hydrogen society

• Phase 1.
• Demonstration and evalu-
• ation project running 3
• hydrogen buses in Reykjavík
• Phase 2.
• Gradual replacement of the Reykjavik city bus
  fleet and possibly other bus fleets with fuel
  cell buses

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Transformation of Iceland into a hydrogen society
(cont.)

• Phase 3.
• Introduction of hydrogen based fuel cell cars
  for private transportation
• Phase 4.
• Fuel cell vessel demonstration and evalutation
  project
• Phase 5.
• Gradual replacement of the present fishing fleet
  by fuel cell powered vessels

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Historical milestones in the Icelandic energy
economy
AD 2040
Transformation into hydrogen society completed
Advent of a hydroelectric hydrogen economy
AD 2000
AD 1940
Geothermal space heating
AD 1900
Hydroelectric energy
AD 1800
Imported liquid fossil fuel
AD 1700
Imported coal and coke
Wood and peat
AD 874
Settlement of Iceland
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Icelandic hydrogen society

• In this way transformation of Iceland into a
  hydrogen economy/society could possibly be
  completed in the years 2030-2040