The earliest grid energy storage power station northwest of Reykjavik

It started off slowly with hydro powering just the lights but fully took off when Ljósafoss power plant began producing power for the city of Reykjavik in 1937. The plant made it possible for homes to stop relying on burning coal for cooking and at the same time, geothermal began to replace heating in the capital.

The operation of the Reykjavik Electricity Authority began formally in 1921, when a hydroelectric power station was inaugurated on the Ellida river. The distribution system was enlarged to keep pace with the rapid increase in the population of the capital during the 1920's and soon the Ellida station cope with the demand.

The very first Icelandic hydropower station started operating in the town of Hafnarfjörður, near the capital, in 1904. Two additional towns in Iceland got electricity from hydropower stations in the early 1920's; Reykjavik in 1921 and Akureyri in northern Iceland in 1922.

But when Iceland started, nobody was thinking about it. The energy transition from carbon based fuels to renewables began over 100 years ago. It started off slowly with hydro powering just the lights but fully took off when Ljósafoss power plant began producing power for the city of Reykjavik in 1937.

In the wake of the Industrial Revolution in mainland Europe, Iceland began to develop its hydroelectric and geothermal resources in the early 1900s to provide electricity to Reykjavik and to further mechanize the country. This is the second of a two-part blog covering Icelandic energy infrastructure.

So far most of Iceland's electricity production comes from hydropower. Geothermal energy is also important source for electricity generation, but more important as resource for heating (especially district heating).