CASE STUDY:


THE REYKHOLT POWER PLANT

Combined Heat & Power from Geothermal Heat

  • APPLICATION

    GEOTHERMAL

  • LOCATION

    ICELAND

OUR PARTNER

Varmaorka is an Icelandic project developer that focuses on harnessing geothermal resources in areas where heat temperatures are approximately 100°C. Varmaorka develops, finances, constructs and operates small scale geothermal facilities in Iceland.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Reykholt is a tiny village in west Iceland, which was once home to one of the world’s greatest medieval writers, Snorre Sturluson. One of the famous landmarks in Reykholt is Snorre Sturluson’s old outdoor hot bath using geothermal brine.

In modern times geothermal energy is used for district heating of the hotel, farms, and green houses. The local priest realized the potential to not only utilize the resource for heating, but also produce electricity seeing as the existing well's hot water was far warmer than required by the district heating system. Previously, the excessive heat was simply wasted as steam. Varmaorka in collaboration with Climeon took on the task to integrate Climeon technology with the existing district heating system to make use of all available heat.

CASE OVERVIEW

  • POWER PLANT NAME: The Reykholt Power Plant

  • LOCATION:  Reykholt, Iceland

  • STATUS: In operation since 2021

  • APPLICATION: Geothermal

  • CUSTOMER/END USER: HS Orka

  • MODEL: Climeon HP 150

  • PLANT SIZE: 600 kW

  • WATER TEMPERATURE IN/OUT: HW in ~110°C, HW out ~85°C

  • COOLING AGENT: River cooling

  • GENERATOR VOLTAGE: 400 V

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OUR SOLUTION

The power plant is in an existing building in the village of Reykholt, close to the district heating well. Climeon supplied site design, site control software, two Climeon HP150s and the site commission.

The hot water from the well is 126°C and it heats water in an intermediate circuit that is connected to the Climeon units. The hot water temperature after the power plant is 85°C, which is the inlet temperature to the district heating system.

Simplified drawing of Reykholt's combined heat and power plant.
Simplified drawing of Reykholt's combined heat and power plant.

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