Over 80% of electricity in Iceland is generated in hydroelectric power stations. While geothermal energy is used for heating (and increasingly for electricity generation), the hydroelectric power stations, historically all run by Landsvirkjun, are central to the existence of Iceland as an industrialized country.
The largest power station by far is Kárahnjúkavirkjun (690 MW), which generates electricity in the area north of Vatnajökull for the production of aluminum.
Other projects and stations include:
- Blöndustöð generates 150 MW
- Búrfellsstöð generates 270 MW
- Hrauneyjafosstöð generates 210 MW
- Laxárstöðvar, on the Laxá River, generates 28 MW
- Sigöldustöð generates 150 MW
- Sogsstöðvar generates 89 MW
- Sultartangastöð generates 120 MW
- Vatnsfellsstöð generates 90 MW
Famous quotes containing the words power and/or stations:
“And we ask this where truth is,
Of what use is valour and is worth?
For evil has conquered the race,
There is no power but in base men,
Nor any man whom the gods do not hate.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“After I was married a year I remembered things like radio stations and forgot my husband.”
—P. J. Wolfson, John L. Balderston (1899–1954)