From Vision to Action: Clean Energy Planning in Northeast Iceland

Akureyri Energy Seminar

On May the 6th, the RECET project and the NetZero Island Network joined forces and held a joint seminar in Akureyri, under the title Akureyri Energy Seminar: Sustainable Solutions for Remote areas. RECET partners Eimur and Icelandic New Energy took on the planning of the event jointly with Nordic Energy Research and the Environment and Energy Agency Iceland.

During the seminar participants heard success stories from Denmark, Canada, Åland, Sweden, Shetland and more places and gained insights into developing process for societal sustainability strategies in different regions.

Key takeaways from the seminar were:

• Energy transitions are more expensive in rural, remote and islanded communities, and often require skill and capacity which smaller communities often lack.

• In order to drive such energy transitions, society must find mutual benefit. Despite smallness of many rural communities, the size can become a strength and change can happen at a much faster pace as compared to larger urban societies. This is why the social prosperity is no 1 on the sustainability agenda of the Åland Islands.

• The energy transition is a societal transition, rather than a mere technical one. This is a common misconception. Societies must be met where they are.

• Trust is a necessary (and sometimes also a sufficient) ingredient for driving change: "change happens at the speed of trust".

• Community ownership is the gold standard, when it comes to achieving social acceptance for energy production as has been apparent through the development of energy projects in the Shetlands where the local community gets their share of local energy production. This is also a known truth from the Danish Island of Samsø where windmills simply look better if you own a share in them.

Energy related analysis for the energy transition

Eimur has launched two reports analysing energy affairs in the Icelandic context. The first report released in September 2024 covered the foreseen requirements for the electrification of harbours to sustain the electrification of smaller boats and fishing vessels.

Energy transitions in the country's passenger car fleet are progressing reasonably well, but energy transitions in marine-related activities are considerably less advanced, although there is some growth in this regard across the country. One of the factors that needs to be considered is the expected power demand for electricity at the country's ports. Ships and boats have different power requirements, and it is important to understand which energy sources and carriers are likely to suit each user.

One of the most important conclusions of the report is that there is no major infrastructure problem hindering the energy of smaller boats and ships, in the sense that the current transmission grids and production should sustain the foreseen demand. In some smaller towns, some investment is needed to provide more powerful electrical connections that carry a capacity of 1-3 MW, but in other places, e.g. in Akureyri and in larger towns, the electrical system can handle this as it is set up today.

When it comes to larger ships, the picture is different. We need to think holistically about where large boats should dock in the future, because it is not necessarily a given that all ports should build an electricity system that can accommodate trawlers, cargo ships and cruise ships. It would be sensible to formulate a policy for receiving larger ships in the region of NE-Iceland.

In the second report released in December 2024, oil sales in Iceland were analysed for the period 2010-2020, with a geographical breakdown. This is the first time that such data are made accessible in Iceland.

The report is based on the database of the Oil Products Transport Equalization Fund (ice. Flutningsjöfnunarsjóður olíuvara), which was operated until 2020. Here, oil sales from 2010-2020 are analyzed by region and municipality, and the use classified by type of fuel. This accounts for oil use in land transport, ships and boats, and then other uses that are mostly due to fuel use in small industry and agriculture.

The best measure of the progress of the energy transition is the amount of oil burnt at any given time. After a successful clean energy transition no oil will be burnt. There are no official data on oil consumption in Iceland by region or municipality, and the data that was previously collected are no longer collected.

The main conclusion of the report is that there is considerable variation in oil sales in transport, maritime activities and industry by both regions and municipalities, indicating that oil consumption is generally higher outside the capital region than within it. Government actions supporting the country's energy transition must take this variation into account to ensure that all decision-making within the area applies equally to all residents of the country, regardless of whether they live close to the capital area or not.

This analysis adds a new dimension to the discussion of the energy transition in Iceland and places it in a regional context, where previously data were lacking.