by Karen Miller, Program Director, National
Hydrogen Association
The
NHA was honored to host representation from Iceland to discuss
Iceland’s energy policy and the specific effort underway
to create a hydrogen economy there. Valgerdur Sverrisdottir, Iceland’s
Minister for Industry and Trade, graced attendees of the NHA’s
11th Annual Meeting in March with a discussion of the current
energy mix in Iceland.
Presently, 70 percent of the primary energy supply and 99.9 percent
of the country’s electricity is produced by geothermal energy
and hydropower. Geothermal steam and electricity provide 98 percent
of the energy used in space heating. Sixty-seven percent of Iceland’s
total energy consumption is currently based on sustainable energy.
The next challenge then, is to convert Iceland’s transportation
economy to renewable energy. This is the effort of Icelandic New
Energy, Ltd., a joint venture company owned by VistOrku hf (EcoEnergy),
DaimlerChrysler AG, Norsk Hydro ASA, and Shell Hydrogen BV. The
purpose of this venture is to investigate the potential for eventually
replacing the use of fossil fuels in Iceland with hydrogen-based
fuels and create the world’s first hydrogen economy.
Hjalmar Arnason, a member of Iceland’s Parliament, described
the effort to convert Iceland’s transportation economy. According
to the Kyoto Agreement, which Iceland has not yet signed, Iceland
can increase its emissions by 10 percent from 1990 levels. Iceland
has negotiated to erect new power-intensive industries (metals)
that increase the emissions more than ten percent. Therefore,
Iceland seeks to cut emissions elsewhere. Approximately one-third
of Iceland’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from each of
the following sectors: transport, fishing fleet, and industry.
By using hydrogen for all vehicles, including the fishing fleet,
it may be possible to reduce emissions by 66 percent. The use
of methanol rather than hydrogen would reduce emissions by 40
percent.
Iceland currently produces 2,000 tons of hydrogen annually, primarily
to produce ammonia for fertilizer production. Eighty thousand
to 90,000 tons would be needed to power the entire transportation
sector and fishing fleet of Iceland.
The metals industries in Iceland produce significant amounts
of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. These could be mixed with
hydrogen to produce methanol. Utilized fully, this scenario could
cut total greenhouse gas emissions in Iceland by 55 percent. While
this has some advantages, there are presently concerns regarding
toxicity of methanol. Hydrogen, therefore, is being considered.
Iceland provides some interesting opportunities for hydrogen.
The country has experience in converting from one type of energy
to another, and has already announced an aim to make the transition
to hydrogen. In addition, Iceland has some very scalable project
opportunities (i.e., there are small, self-contained communities
whose infrastructures could be converted first, then the projects
could be scaled up and linked).
A three-bus demonstration in Iceland is more significant than
one in the United States or Canada as three buses represents four
percent of Iceland’s transit buses. Lessons learned from
the recent and ongoing successful bus projects in the U.S. and
Canada could be utilized quickly, with an opportunity to gradually
replace the entire Reykjavik city bus fleet and, ultimately, all
buses with hydrogen fuel cell buses. Private cars and fishing
vessels could follow. In this way, states Arnason, transformation
of Iceland into a hydrogen economy could be completed in the years
2030 to 2040.
There is opportunity for U.S. participation and support through
the NATO base in Iceland. This base is primarily operated by the
U.S. Army and has its own self-sufficient infrastructure. A project
here could create the first hydrogen NATO base in the world and
give U.S. Army personnel experience in operating a infrastructure
based on hydrogen, the fuel of the future. This could provide
the U.S. with a cadre of experts with actual hydrogen experience.
The NHA will continue to follow this important activity and assist
in information dissemination at its annual meeting in Washington,
D.C., next March.