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Jun 19

Startup Energy Reykjavik investment day

The closure of Startup Energy Reykjavik program was held on Arion Bank head office the 28th may. The program is a mentorship-driven seed stage investment program with focus on energy related business ideas. After 10 intensive weeks, the final teams presented their projects to possible investors.

Startup-Reykjavik-logo-arion-bank

The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Ragnheidur Elín Arnadottir, congratulated and encouraged the teams to start new companies in this strategic sector, and remarked the strong commitment the Icelandic Government has with young entrepreneurs, announcing an increase up to 3% of the GPD for 2016 in research and development programs.

These are the main business ideas that the seven young energy companies presented to investors:

  • DTE Dynamic Technology Equipment is specialized in developing equipment for aluminum industry. They presented their latest innovation, PEA Aluminum (Portable Element Analyzer). This innovative tool allow testing aluminum properties “in situ”, avoiding long time waits from laboratory responses. Their expertise background in the sector and the big market are one of the strengths. Contact: Karl Águst Mattíasson (karl@dtequipment.com).
  • BMJ Energy makes the smartest micro-hydro stations available on the market. Able to use smaller creeks to produce electricity, with their unique control system, they maximize the energy production without the need of big reservoirs.  The company also offers real time monitoring for hydros. BMJ focuses on micro-hydro stations, from 1kw to 50kW. With already some stations working in Iceland, they see their future in the global market. BMJ energy makes every drop count. Contact: Bjarni Malmquist Jónsson (b.malmquist@bmj.is).
  • The objetive of Fjárfestingafélagið Landsvarmi is to introduce heat pumps for district heating in iceland by using the thermal heat source of the ocean. This improvement will reduce the electric consumption in cold areas up to less than half of the current figures. The potential market is the entire artic region, with four million inhabitants. Contact: Kristján M.Ólafsson (kolafsson@kpmg.is).
  • BigEddy provides accurate site assessments for wind farms by combining weather observations with state of the art models that reveal the true potential of prospective sites. Furthermore BigEddy specialises in high accuracy wind energy forecasts to enable operators to accurately predict the production of wind farms worldwide. Contact: Ólafur Rögnvaldsson (or@belgingur.is).
  • Research in geothermal fields are normally costly and time consuming. Geodrone works with unmmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with remote sensing technologies to provide customized measurement, a way to reduce cost, time and risk in exploratory stages. Contact: Alicja W. Stoklosa (ailcjastoklosa@gmail.com).
  • Eta-nýtni is developing a plant that produces Sodium chlorate and hydrogen, using sea water. The expected 13 millions of m3 of Hydrogen will be sell in the local market, meanwhile the 20,000t/year of Sodium chlorate will be export for paper industry in Europe. Contact: Gunnar Tryggvason (guntry@gmail.com).
  • Gerosion is a knowledge based company that specializes in solutions for the geothermal, oil and gas industries, in material testing and selection for casings and equipment, in deep high temperature and pressure wells. The company is buying a unique AutoClave pressure vessel with a specific gas injection system, for simulated testing of materials, including metals and well cement grouts, in supercritical conditions. Contacts: Sunna Ó. Wallevik (sunna@gerosion.com) and Kolbrún R. Ragnarsdóttir (kolbrun@gerosion.com).

By Contributing Author: Scherezade D. Martos, Hydrogeologist,  MSc Sustainable Energy.

Jun 2

Iceland’s growing silicon industry

The world’s silicon industry is aiming at rapidly increasing production in Iceland. This is unerstandable, as Landsvirkjun (the Icelandic National Power Company) offers very competitive electricity prices and better opportunities for long-term contracts than can be found elswehere in Europe or even in North America. At the same time, Landsvirkjun is diversifying its customer base in very positive way. Today we will be looking at the growing silicon industry in Iceland.

United Silicon production plant

In last March Landsvirkjun signed a power purchase agreement with United Silicon; a new company established by a conglomerate of silicon industry participants in Europe. Under this agreement, Landsvirkjun will provide electricity to power a metallurgical grade silicon metal production plant being built by United Silicon in Helguvík in Southwest Iceland.

Solar-PV-Market-Future-May-2013

The 20,000 ton facility is scheduled to commence operations in early 2016 and will require 35 MW of power which will be derived entirely from the renewable energy sources of Icelandic hydro and geothermal. During the past year, United Silicon has been evaluating several sites around the world to establish its new silicon production facility, there amongst in the Middle East and Malaysia. Because of the excellent conditions in Iceland, it was decided that Helguvík would be the right location for the plant.

The construction of the plant is expected to start already this summer (2014). Arion Bank will be financing the project, which is expected to take place both through a senior loan as well as junior bond. The Icelandic TSO Landsnet has  signed agreement with United Silicon regarding transmission of the energy to the upcoming plant.

Thorsil silicon metal plant

Earlier this year, the Icelandic company Thorsil and Icelandic engineering firm Mannvit signed an agreement for the engineering of a silicon metal plant that Thorsil intends to construct and operate in Southwest Iceland (at the same location as United Silicon). The plant may need close to 85 MW of power.

Mannvit-logo-largeIn December 2013 Thorsil increased its share capital in order to finance this part of the project. That same year Thorsil and municipality of Reykjanesbær signed a contract for the 16 hectare plant site at the industrial and port area of Helguvík. The plant’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) is under way. Construction og the facility is set to start in late 2014 and scheduled to commence operationsin late 2016.

The plant will have an annual production capacity of 54,000 tons per year.

 Roughly 300 people will be employed during the construction phase. Some 160 new jobs will be created once the production is up and running (in addition to jobs at related service providers and vendors).

PCC Silicon metal production plant

PCC-Silicon-Bakki-Iceland

In last March (2014) Icelandic National Power Company Landsvirkjun and PCC Bakki Silicon announced a power purchase agreement for a new metallurgical grade silicon metal production plant. The plant will be built by PCC close to Husavik in Northeast Iceland. PCC is a German industrial group, operating in 16 countries. The three main divisions of the group are chemicals, logistics and energy.

Production in the new plant at Bakki is estimated to start in early 2017 and will produce up to 36,000 tons, using 58 MW of power which will mostly be derived from renewable geothermal power in Northeast Iceland.The contract is subject to certain conditions set to be finalised later this year. The energy for the plant will be delivered by the Icelandic TSO Landsnet, as already has been negotiated between Landsnet and PCC.

Silicor Materials

The US company Silicor Materials has signed terms of a contract to build a solar silicon factory at Grundartangi in Soutwest Iceland. Silicor Material is a leading manufacturer of high-quality solar silicon, currently powering more than 20 million solar photovoltaic cells for customers around the world.

The Icelandic plant is expected to produce up to 16,000 tonnes of solar silicon annually (for solar panels). This investment will be close to 700 million USD and the plant will employ more than 400 people on completion. The construction of the plant is expected to start later this year (2014) and be operational in 2017. Although it has yet to be seen if all the projects above will be realized, there is obviously great interest in the silicon industry to gain from the positive location and business environment in Iceland.