by LOVANA WEAL
REYKJAVIK, Jun 19, 2011 (IPS) – Public health authorities in Reykjavik have criticised plans for the expansion of the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant. They say that levels of the gas hydrogen sulphide could increase by 40 percent if a new geothermal field, Grauhnukur, is developed and nothing is done to ensure that the levels of the gas remain below maximum permitted levels.
The Hellisheidi plant is about 30 km east of Reykjavik and was opened in September 2006. Since then, it has been expanded three times. Until December 2010 it was only used to generate electricity, primarily for the Century aluminium plant in Grundartangi, West Iceland, but now it is also used for domestic heating.
“Electricity from the expansion in autumn will go to the Grundartangi aluminium plant, and conceivably to the Century aluminium plant at Helguvik in Southwest Iceland, if that plant is ever completed,” informs Eirikur Hjalmarsson, Communications Director at the plant’s operators, Orkuveita Reykjavikur (OR).
One of the byproducts of geothermal energy is hydrogen sulphide (H2S), a gas that is emitted in the steam from geothermal plants and is often described as smelling of rotten eggs.
In California, the limit for H2S has been put at the level at which people notice the smell from it. This was discovered to be 42 micrograms per cubic metre, averaged over an hour.
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