Theistareykir Geothermal Power Plant, A Sustainable Construction

摘要

The geothermal area at Theistareykir in north east of Iceland has great potential for geothermal utilization, with an estimated capacity of up to 200 MW_e. In November 2017 commercial operation of the first phase of the Theistareykir power plant started. Today the Theistareykir geothermal power plant operates at 90 MW_e. Preparation work and research on the sustainable utilization of geothermal energy at Theistareykir began in 1999 by an association founded by local municipalities and regional utility companies, later merged into the National Power Company of Iceland, Landsvirkjun. The objective was to harness the geothermal resource in a sustainable way. In addition to planning, licensing and environmental impact assessment, the first 15 years were used for explorational drilling to confirm potential steam availability, stakeholder management with consultation to land owners and users of the planned construction area as well as a definition of vegetation reclamation program. At project launching in April 2015 nine steam wells with total of 58 MW_e capacity had been drilled. Landsvirkjun in co-operation with stakeholders launched the Northern Sustainability Project with the objective to capture expectations and concerns of planned construction and operation of the power plant. The project develops and monitors social-, environmental- and economical indicators for the power plant. Theistareykir Geothermal Power Project was chosen as a Pilot Project for testing of a new Geothermal Sustainability Assessment Protocol, GSAP. The result was that the project has been carried out in harmony with the environment and in consensus with the society. Safety and environmental matters were at the forefront during the project execution. This paper summarizes in brief the history of the Theistareykir geothermal power plant project along with the challenges and solutions the project team went through during the planning, design and construction of power plant.