#hengill

Presentation.

Before entering the facility, we were given a short presentation on how the entire system works.

If I remember correctly, the geothermal zone has porous rocks that water seeps into and is subsequently heated up such that it vaporizes. This vaporized water (steam and some water clinging to it, termed saturated steam) is brought up to the wells from very deep in the earth by convection currents and is then channeled through the well system and into those pipes that were pictured earlier. Those pipes lead to a mist separator system that removes the water from the steam. From there, dry steam is sent to the turbines where it pushes through the high pressure turbines at a pressure of about 9 atmospheres (9 bar or 8.88 atm to be exact) and the low pressure turbine at about 2 atmospheres. Steam pushing through to turbine drives the turbine blades which are connected to a generator to create power. That power is modified in a variety of ways to make it compatible with the country's power transmission system. The steam is then pumped back into the ground to repeat the cycle. The water separated from the steam either gets recycled back into the ground or goes to the hot water processing plant for piping to cities and industries.

Turbines

The power generation component of the plant consists of 6 high-pressure steam turbines, each capable of generating 45 MW of electricity, and 1 low-pressure steam turbine, capable of producing 33 MW of power. Fun fact: the high pressure turbines are made by Mitsubishi.

Hot water processing.

This is the hot water processing part of the plant. I don't exactly remember what happens here.

Turbine repair.

Once we exited the bowels of the facility, we got to explore the plant's visitor center. The upper level had some really awesome info-graphics, models, and views of the plant.

Modeling.

(1) A model of the inner workings of a high pressure turbine. (2) A topographical model of the geothermal plant site and some of the surrounding Hengill area.

Infographics.

(1+2) The "headless cat" analogy is meant to be representative of the structure of the hotspot that Iceland sits on top of. The surface-level orange zones designate the tectonic plate boundary (North American and Eurasian plates) that runs through the island (something you'll be able to see physically VERY soon). (3) A diagram explaining how the hot water produced here is sent to nearby population centers. (4) A diagram showing an Iceland-specific atmospheric and geological water cycle for the geothermal zone. It helps to explain how geothermal is actually renewable. (5) A large Lindal diagram showing what temperatures are required for thermal processes such as heating a home or a swimming pool, providing energy for a smelter, dehydrating food, etc.

(Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the famous "energy consumption around the world represented by Big Macs" diagram)

The upper level of the visitor's center also had a terminal that simulated the various earthquakes that have occurred at the plant since its construction, a place to sit down and watch an informational video about how geothermal energy works and Icelandic history. And these observation decks.

In the main exhibition hall was the main desk, a gift shop, a small eatery, and various collections.

(1) A mineral out of the rock collection they had. (2) Part of the collection itself. (3) An example of a drill bit used for well exploration.

And of course we took group photos.

The two at the bottom were our guides, Mumi (not his actual name: he spared us having to pronounce that) and Helga. More on them later.

Outside. The smell of sulfur was strong with this one.