The largest consumers of electricity in Iceland

Very few countries in the world offer as competitively priced electricity as Iceland does. Companies that need substantial quantity of electricity (or hot water) and wish to operate within Europe, North America or elsewhere in the OECD, will hardly find better business environment as available in Icelandic. For example, the Icelandic power company Landsvirkjun offers 12 year contracts where the electricity is priced at 43 USD/MWh.

Another fact that makes Icelandic electricity a very attractive option, is that almost 100% of all electricity generated in Iceland comes from renewable sources (hydro- and geothermal power). In addition, the Icelandic power stations and transmission system rank among the world’s best in terms of secure and reliable electricity supply.

The low-cost and reliable Icelandic electricity has led to a strong power-intensive industry in Iceland. Industrial manufacturing products have become the largest part of Icelandic exports, accounting for close to 55% of the total exports (in fob-value). The largest proportion of these exports is aluminum (40% of total exports), which is produced in large smelters by harnessing Icelandic renewable energy.

Today, the aluminum industry and other power intensive industries consume approximately 80% of all the electricity in Iceland. Although the aluminum industry is a dominating consumer of Icelandic electricity, new energy related industries and services have started to see Iceland as an attractive location. Examples are foils production for electrolytic capacitors and data centers.

This new interest is understandable, especially when having in mind the high electricity prices in many European countries. And Iceland’s cool weather, good capacity in overseas telecom cable connections, and very competitive electricity prices make the country an ideal location for data storage services. Another example of a new industry is aquaculture, utilizing warm wastewater from the Icelandic geothermal stations. This, and other new upcoming projects harnessing Icelandic energy, will be further described here at the Icelandic Energy Portal in next week.