Innovation at ON Power’s geothermal park

In September 2019, Algaennovation Iceland opened a microalgae facility at the geothermal park of ON Power’s Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant. This is the first company to commence operations in ON Power’s geothermal park in the municipality of Ölfus. The company utilises electricity, cold and hot water directly from the power plant. The objective of the geothermal park is precisely to transform the diverse natural resource streams in the geothermal production fields into value for the future.

Algaennovation is an international high-tech company which has developed methods of transforming energy into nutrition. This project is in fact the first of its kind in the world to have succeeded in making this transformation with this level of efficiency. The aim is to make the operations carbon negative. This is based on the fact that more carbon dioxide is used to nourish the microalgae under cultivation than is released by productions as a whole. Moreover, the technology used in the country is tailor-made to the geothermal resources that are to be found here in Iceland.

ON Power’s geothermal park was created with a view to building a community of companies that place an emphasis on the environment, innovation and technological development. Geothermal resources and their utilisation at the Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant come in many streams, not just for the generation of electricity but also fresh cold and hot  water, mineral water and gases. These resources are not fully used today and create great potential for future value.