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Iceland Drilling to undertake deep drilling in northern Iceland
One of the most challenging drilling projects in the world
Landsvirkjun, on behalf of the Icelandic Deep Drilling Project (IDDP), and Iceland Drilling have signed a project contract for drilling activities in the Krafla area of northern Iceland, marking the beginning of deep drilling in high temperature geothermal areas. Since this is the first deep borehole of its kind the project is unique on a worldwide level. Scientists from around the world will be watching the project with interest and a number of domestic and foreign specialists will be involved in the research. The drilling is expected to be concluded in 2009.
The contract with Iceland Drilling is worth in excess of ISK 970 million but the total cost of the deep drilling project at Krafla is estimated to exceed two billion ISK, including design, research and material costs. Landsvirkjun and Alcoa will finance the drilling of the first 3,500 metres of the Krafla hole, while IDDP will pay for drilling from 3,500 to 4,500 metres in addition to core sampling and other specialised research during the drilling, as well as testing the hole once the drilling is done. Apart from Landsvirkjun, parties to the Icelandic Deep Drilling Projects are: Hitaveita Sudurnesja hf., Reykjavík Energy, The National Energy Authority, Alcoa and StatoilHydro ASA. The project has also received financial support, including a grant of USD 3.1 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and USD 1.7 million from the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). Preparation for the activities has mostly been handled by specialists from Iceland GeoSurvey (ÍSOR) and Mannvit Engineering, with additional input from experienced specialists from around the world, especially ENEL in Italy.
Great innovation potential
Agnar Olsen, acting managing director of Landsvirkjun, emphasises that, given the heat and pressure at the depths involved the project will be challenging and pioneering, requiring solutions to be found for many technical issues before steam can be harnessed. “Therefore it is very fortunate that Landsvirkjun has appointed such a capable contractor who is familiar with the conditions and is well known by Landsvirkjun. The drilling of this hole in the Krafla area is probably one of the most challenging drilling projects in the world at the moment and if successful, the results of this and future projects in this country could lead to a significant increase in the future exploitation of high temperature geothermal areas around the world. These include high temperature areas along the Pacific coast of the USA, coasts of Africa and the Mediterranean Sea and in various sites in Asia. This also opens the door for many kinds of innovation and product development. On the one hand the project will require the development of specialised measuring equipment, tools and research methods while, on the other hand, the methods by which we intend to process energy under these unique conditions will demand innovative approaches."
Olsen also points out the importance of exploiting green energy in a positive manner. “In the 21st century we are constantly looking for new ways to exploit environmentally friendly energy sources effectively. A balanced exploitation of Icelandic energy resources and the export of knowledge is our contribution to the international challenge and this way we lay the foundations for a modern, quality lifestyle which can be lived in a responsible manner.”
The hottest high temperature hole
This autumn, Jötunn, one of Iceland Drilling’s drills, will drill the first 800 metres at Krafla then next spring Týr, the company's newest drill, will take over and drill to a depth of 4,500 metres. In this area the distance to the magma chamber is unusually short, around 3 to 5 kilometres with considerable volcanic activity, as witnessed in the Krafla eruptions in the years 1975 to 1984 and the Mývatn eruptions from 1724 to 1729. The rock temperature at 4,500 m below the earth’s surface can be expected to reach 450 to 600°C, making the deep drilling hole in Krafla the hottest high temperature hole in the world.
Valuable experience
Bent S. Einarsson, CEO of Iceland Drilling, says that the project will mark a new era in the history of energy sciences. “If everything goes as planned this will not only be a matter of acquiring valuable energy but also of obtaining valuable knowledge from brand new circumstances. It is very important to exploit and strengthen Iceland’s advantage in this field which is encompassed in our experience and technical know-how. In fact it is our experience of acquiring and processing geothermal energy in different conditions which is the most precious factor in our marketing abroad. The company has been making a name for itself overseas and right now our subsidiary, Hekla Energy GmbH, is working on drilling projects in low temperature areas in Germany. The conditions there are very different to the conditions at Krafla, both in terms of strata and temperature. Despite the heat at 4-5 km below being only at 150 - 170°C in Germany, exploitation is cost-effective due to the massively increasing demand for clean and environmentally sound energy in Germany and other EU countries."
The deepest geothermal well ever drilled
Deep drilling is a new and exciting chapter in the history of energy, attempting to exploit high temperature areas in a completely different manner than before and retrieving environmentally friendly energy from depths previously unheard of. The companies hope that the deep boreholes can be up to 5-10 times more powerful than normal high temperature holes and that each hole will yield up to 40-50 MW of electric power. The IDDP project has been in preparation since the year 2000 and when the Krafla project is concluded, deep drilling projects in Iceland’s Hengill area and Reykjanes await. The IDDP project will be in progress until 2015 and the total cost is estimated at close to four billion ISK.
Excitement grows at a depth of 3,500 metres
Bjarni Pálsson, engineer at Landsvirkjun, explains that usually water is considered to have three forms: Firstly its solid state, or ice, secondly its liquid form and thirdly steam. But one of the main objectives for the deep drilling project is to reach down to its fourth state: steam in the so-called supercritical state, yielding up to 10 times the energy of regular geothermal steam. Pálsson points out that the supercritical state of matter is exploited in other areas of the energy world, for instance in coal and nuclear plants in order to maximise energy from the stream of material mass passed through turbines. “The big challenge of deep drilling is finding the point at which we move from the traditional state of water into this supercritical state. It will probably be around the 3,500 metre mark that things will begin to heat up for us in the Krafla area. We will take 10 core samples at 2,400 - 4,500 metres below, most of those around 3,500 metres; which is where we believe the separation of normal geothermal steam and supercritical steam will most likely occur.”
Bent S. Einarsson, CEO of Iceland Drilling, believes that one of the major technical issues to be overcome in the deep drilling process will be how to put linings in place at the pressure and temperature occurring at this depth and to cement the linings in the hole. “We can not use the concrete we use at 10°C on the surface at 400°C at this depth and therefore different kinds of concrete mixes are being developed at a lab by one of IDDP’s partners abroad. International co-operation is necessary for this complex project but Icelanders will nevertheless play the starring roles. We are in charge of the activities themselves, while at the same time obtaining knowledge of unique geothermal areas and comprehensively mapping the areas."