HS Orka i53 Fall 23

EXECUTIVE INSIGHT LEADING THE PROFESSIONAL CHARGE

FALL 2023

ISSUE 53

The Power of

Green Energy HS Orka is the third-largest power company in Iceland and the only one privately owned.

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The Power of

Green Energy HS Orka is the third-largest power company in Iceland and the only one privately owned, with over 40 years of successful operations in the arena of renewable energy. The company has recently invested in a significant expansion, and has ambitious plans for the future, as Sunna Björg Helgadóttir, the company’s EVP of Technical Services, explained.

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S Orka, founded in 1974, is the largest private-sector energy producer in Iceland; since its inception it has focused on the production of renewable energy. The company owns and operates two geothermal power plants, Svartsengi and Reykjanes, located in south-west Iceland. In addition, HS Orka also has a 10 MW hydropower plant, Brúarvirkjun, and operates a water and district heating supply business.

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We had a strong and experienced project team, experts in every position, the planning process and preparations were good, as well as the risk anagement.

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HD Technical Services, Your Industrial Maintenance Partner HD is one of the leading industrial and technical services providers in Iceland with over 230 employees and our mission is to provide our customers with quality personalized services and reliable solutions. Our core values are safety, honesty, superior customer service attitude and professionalism promoted through a culture of continuous improvement.

HD’s services comprise of technical design and consultation, fabrication, instalment as well as preventive maintenance by condition- and continues monitoring of mechanical equipment. Our condition monitoring department makes every effort to insure a smooth and effortless production.

HD has fabricated and installed a one-of-a-kind steam separator for HS Orka’s geothermal power plant, Reykjanesvirkjun, supporting HS Orka’s sustainable energy production in the highly challenging environment of the Reykjanes peninsula.

HD offers customizable services for setup, operations, and maintenance for various factories in environmental industries. With years of experience, innovative technologies and state of the art solutions, our goal is preventing all unnecessary production stops.

HD offers repairs and maintenance services for geothermal steam turbine rotors and diaphragms. We also provide an overhaul of geothermal electrical generators. In our workshop we have set up an innovative overhaul shop with capabilities ranging from minor repairs and rotor balancing to complex repairs and full overhauls.

The rotor overhauls are performed with automatic welding and machining, along with post weld heat treatments and re-blading of the rotors, returning the equipment to a like-new condition, prolonging service life whilst maintaining high quality and standards.

HD services for the Geothermal industry.

Service and capabilities include, but are not limited to the following • Design of systems and project management • Generator onsite stator and rotor rewinding • Turbine diaphragm rebuilding • Pump repairs surface and long shaft pumps • Supplying spare parts for power plant machinery

• Steam turbine outage services and overhaul • Turbine rotor repairs, welding, stress relive and balancing • Repairs of valves and valve actuators • Reverse engineering, 3D scanning • Total power plant installation and startup

Additional service provided by HD Pump service, Lathe and milling, Stainless steel – plastic and steel pipeline, Non-Destructive Testing NDT, Hydraulic cylinder workshop, Machine workshop, Condition analysis, Steel work, installation of machinery and steel structures, Customised machine parts, Technical design services, Service contracts.

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Sunna, who was born and bred in Iceland and has worked in operational roles since she completed her studies, moving to her current role at HS Orka three years ago, noted that HS Orka started to participate in the energy transition very early on, ahead of others, and continues to push for greater progress.

The company can well be proud of its achievements during 2022, the best-ever year in the company’s history in terms of performance and financial results. Following immaculate planning and well-prepared and closely managed implementation, the expansion of the Reykjanes power station was successfully completed – a task achieved during the global pandemic with all its restrictions.

Construction started at the beginning of 2021 and the facility was completed within budget, and ahead of schedule.

Globally unique The project is unique globally in the sense that instead of drilling new boreholes, HS Orka, in collaboration with other Icelandic experts, has developed a new way to further utilise the resource, relying on capturing the waste heat from the power plant. As such,

the environmental impact of the project is almost zero, since the concept is to make full use of the energy and fluids that are already being extracted from the ground.

Sunna Björg Helgadóttir who led the project throughout the preparation, construction and commissioning phase, recalls: “ We started in the middle of a pandemic, and while the pandemic itself didn’t significantly affect the construction, Covid and the war in Ukraine, as well as harsh weather caused delays in the supply chain and created challenges, which however were managed and controlled.”

She highlighted the aspects that have contributed to successful project completion: “We had a strong and experienced project team, experts in every position, the planning process and preparations were good, as well as the risk management. Good communication and collaboration between the project team and key contractors was also crucial.”

Yngvi Gudmundsson, her colleague and Chief Engineer at HS Orka, adds that the highly proactive approach also made a difference: “We didn’t rely on what the contractors promised, we actively 7

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made them deliver; we cooperated with them to make sure all went as planned.

Good relationships are key and we were lucky in selecting the right suppliers.”

The benefit of the expansion is not only in making use of previously underutilised streams but also in increased output to meet the high demand for renewable energy in Iceland.

The next in line Sunna explains that a proactive approach is not new to HS Orka: “Iceland has been leading the energy transition not only because we have this resource but also because of people who are used to thinking outside the box. This mindset is also reflected in our company culture.”

As in the global field of energy utilisation, greater emphasis is now being put on solutions to make better use of power from the resources that are already being harnessed, new options are being investigated. To this end, HS Orka has already started its next major project – increasing the capacity and utilisation of the resource in its second facility, Svartsengi, a project similar in size to the expansion of the Reykjanes power plant.

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The expansion of Svartsengi will increase the power plant’s total output from 75 MW to 85 MW, and involve the installation of new turbines that will replace several older pieces of equipment.

“Svartsengi is a very promising project that is now in the procurement prepa-

ration phase, with negotiations taking place with key contractors,” explained Yngvi. “We will be installing newer, larger, more efficient equipment, which will help optimise production and make use of steam that would be wasted due to the limitations of the old technology.”

Society without a waste It is not only energy and heat production that is the sole focus of the company. HS Orka has a wider role in the community. Innovation and multi-use of resources are in the ethos of HS Orka’s operations and are the basis of the Resource Park that the company

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established years ago, globally a one-of-itskind complex.

Built around HS Orka’s geothermal power plants, the Resource Park is a leading cluster for green and sustainable businesses, benefiting from the electricity generated as well as from by-products of the geothermal process, including water, heat, geothermal fluids and gases.

So far, the Resource Park has attracted industries including biotechnology, agriculture, leisure and tourism, generating investment and creating new employment in Iceland. Through the Resource Park, HS Orka aims to create a “society without waste”.

More recently, the company has started to offer charging stations for cars.

Within the Resource Park, projects related to the production of e-fuel are being developed, revolving around the utilisation of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released from the company’s geothermal power plants.

There are currently 11 businesses in the Resource Park, all of which began as small start-ups and all have grown rapidly since, affirmed Sunna, and the view is to gradually establish a circular

economy where no resource is wasted.

Serving homes and industries The company has ambitious plans for the future and is set to continue to invest in its assets, focusing on further expansion of its generation capabilities. “In addition to expanding Svartsengi, we have several other projects in the pipeline regarding both hydro- and thermo-power generation as well as enhancing partnerships within the Resource Park. We are also investigating wind power.”

Speaking about her personal goals for the future, Sunna reflects that she will continue to focus on doing a good job to help the company and its people prosper. “I love working in the energy sector and I believe we have an extremely good team here at HS Orka. I look forward to working with the team on our upcoming projects, moving the company forward.”

This will be in line with HS Orka’s mission to serve homes and industries through the multiple and sustainable utilisation of resources for the generation of energy and other products for the benefit of customers, society and the company.

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