Day 2- Selfoss Exploration

This morning I called Thorgils' friend, Thorfinnar. He is a geothermal operator and map maker for Selfossveitur, the community-owned energy company that supplies Selfoss. We arranged our meeting for 2 PM.

In the mean time, I decided to go and explore Selfoss for myself. It is a cute little city, population just barely over 2,000. The Olfusa river runs directly through it. This river is a mixture of a glacial water river from the Langjokull glacier in the highlands and a spring fed river from Lake Thingvallavatn (so glad they have little signs that inform one of these crazy names and occurrences). This is what gives the water this grey, almost glacial looking color. I decided to explore a bit of this river, and it is quite beautiful. The river's bank is formed by a strange volcanic geological formation. There are actual craters in the ground where micro habitats have come to occupy its cocoon. They were formed by bubbling gas from the molten lava. The walls of the bubbles cooled before it burst, creating the first stage of pseudo crater in formation and capturing it as a stand still in time. To top it off, this lava flow is 8.700 years old and is the largest since the ice age- simply remarkable.

Thorfinnar picked me up a bit after 2 and we proceeded to go to the central hub of the geothermal energy station for Selfoss. He showed me the computer system, where he can control the wells, their pumping, and other mechanical operations such as monitoring, etc. I thought that was pretty amazing- didn't realize that the wells, a few kilometers away, could be controlled by a single computer system. He then gave me a grand tour of the geothermal field and the large variety between the 13 wells that are drilled there. It is a low temperature field, meaning it produces just enough energy to provide heat (not quite enough to produce electricity..you need some major steam for that). Currently, there is only one well in operation because the demand is not so high. Come winter time, and these, I believe a total of 5 are being operated throughout the year, a running at almost full capacity. One thing he mentioned that I thought was quite smart, is that there are a ton of back up systems. If a pump fails, there is a back up. If the electrical generator fails, there is a back up. There is even a back up for the back up. These guys seem to be prepared for the worst and the entire system is inter-connected so that it can rely on another part of itself incase one part breaks. I think the US can learn a thing or two from this foresight.

The water being extracted from these wells have very high pH levels- somewhere between 8-9.5, which is pretty high. To prevent failure of the steel (the dominant material used to create and encapsulate these wells) and extreme corrosion, they actually pump sulfuric acid into the mix at a ratio of 1 to 6 (1 liter of acid for every 6 liters of geothermal water). This explains why I have been detecting a slight hint of sulfur (the rotten egg smell) in the water. Even so, when the minerals within the water, such as calcite and gypsum, are oxidized in the process, the spinning pump begins to get clogged, so they need some maintenance every now and then. The one in the photo is an example of this condition. This particular well is also undergoing an experiment. This area has experience 2 major earthquakes in the last 10 years, with the most recent one in 2008. Since the wells are always being monitored, someone notice the radon levels in the wells had increased before the earthquake occurred. They have now set up an experiment to monitor the radon levels in the water. When an earthquake occurs, they will study this very carefully. The hope is that if the radon levels increase in the water before an earthquake, then there is a possibility they can predict when the will happen, which would be pretty rad.
The operating well produces such an extreme high-pitched sound (one of the reasons why they are housed in these huts) and no one can really go inside without ear protection. Next, he took me to go see some out-of-commission wells, aka, the abandoned artifact- something of particular interest to me. In just this little tiny area, each well is in a different condition. The variety is more diverse than I had anticipated. Some are used to measure water table levels (nature AND the wells freak out if it gets too low, so it is extremely important), another appeared to have the characteristic of ancient ruins, and then the last one was a well that was only in operation for a few years because it did not yield a high enough temperature of water, so its parts were re-used, but its imprint is still in the landscape. The huts themselves appear out of place- this is a big concern for the public. Can these things be re-designed to accommodate the large horizontal landscape framed by mountainous volcanoes? This is an interesting design problem indeed.

Everyone I have met so far has been so extremely nice and accommodating. Icelanders drink A LOT of coffee. I think it is their second favorite pass time, next to bathing in geothermal pools and springs. So after the tour we went back to the hub to have coffee, which seems to be in complete abundance here..and it is delicious too!

To get into the genetic side of Iceland, they are ALL blonde and blue eyed. (I fit right in!) It is pretty incredible. They all look like you, Summer! Also, since I know you have been dying to know this, they are pretty serious about the World Cup. Everything shut down during the game this evening haha..awesome.

Tomorrow I go to the most controversial geothermal plant on Iceland, Hellisheidi, which has been in constant expansion since its establishment. It is in the Hengill area, which is a high-temperature zone. Here they can produce heat from the water and electricity from the steam. There is also a current drilling operation happening, something I'd like to see, but am still getting permission to get on the premises.. I hope I can get close!

Image 1: Olfusa river, Selfoss- view from the volcanic stone side
Image 2: Selfossveitur- the computer screen diagram and controls
Image 3: Selfossveitur- Thorfinnar talk to me about the abandoned well, we had a little visitor :)
Image 4: Selfossveitur- the abandoned well left as an artifact in the landscape
Image 5: Selfossveitur- a well in production, the white stuff is the calcite build up