Solar Energy From Iceland?

Icelandic coast

I like to blog about solar energy in other areas of the world, as I believe it helps us gain some perspective and lessons regarding renewable energy.  This post is in honor of one of my favorite bloggers and friends, Pinkpackrat.  I’m going to tell you about solar energy in Iceland.  Yes, its true.  Even in some of the coldest, darkest areas of the earth, solar power can be a viable, green option!  But for reasons you may not know about.

Although I have never been to Iceland, it is on the list of my top 10 places to visit.  The “Land of Fire and Ice” is found at the point at which the North American and European land plates meet.  Amazingly, nearly 90% of the country’s energy needs are met through clean, renewable resources, in part due to the geography and geology.  In Iceland, they do not worry about coal or oil supplies.  Instead, power is generated by geothermal and hydroelectric energy.

Just last week, Bill Moore commented on the EV World blog that there is a huge potential for the solar power industry in Iceland, in part due to its natural energy resources:

“So, somewhere over Greenland, the thought occurred to me that it would make sense to use Iceland’s huge energy potential to manufacture the raw feed stock — polysilicon — from which to fabricate solar cells. At the time, polysilicon was in short supply, forcing photovoltaic panel costs to surge. The gradual decline in PV costs had stalled, as a result. The industry was resorting to using scrap silicon.”

Moore believes it would make sense to have the energy-intensive potion of creating solar panels done in Iceland, and then transport the silicon wafers to other areas of the world where lower-cost workers could assemble them into completed solar panels that could be marketed and sold.  I happen to agree.  Why would we continue to use expensive processing to make silicon wafers (which are already costly) when we can use clean, renewable energy from places like Iceland?

Just watch the following video to get an idea of the vast geothermal resources that could be used to further the solar energy industry:

Mid Atlantic Ridge in Iceland - where the continents meet

Realistically, living off-grid in Iceland may be difficult if you are solely relying on solar power.  After all, the region gets only about 4 hours of daylight during Northern Hemisphere winter months.  But considering the fact that such a high percentage of energy generated and used there is from clean, geothermal sources, it makes sense to consider the location of energy-intensive solar panel manufacturing processes in Iceland.

And if that isn’t enough, how about a new “super grid”?  This green, electrical system allows renewable energy of all types to be transmitted around the world.  Wind power from Norway, solar power from Africa, and geothermal energy from Iceland can all be part of the same system.  Are we that far off from such a reality?

What do you think?

Tags: iceland, solar energy in iceland, solar power