As we descended into the dark tunnel in the side of the mountain a shiver ran through me. We were about to see the progress of an extension to the Burfell Dam, a project that would supply the power station of 100 MW to their existing 270 MW. The site was very industrial; makeshift model houses and work stations in clean lines were surrounded by piles of rock and rubble moved to create roads carving out the hills and valleys. We put on our vests and helmets, lowered our safety glasses and entered the depths of the manmade tunnel…
The giant shaft was not as awful as I expected it to be. It looked more or less like a dark construction site, the road was paved, there were lights, they even had a tube to filter in air from the outside. A big contributor to my apprehensiveness to enter the tunnel and listen to the workers giving us the tour with an open mind was definitely brought on by my increasing distaste for hydroelectric power. Over the last few weeks we’ve learned about the negative aspects of dams, river diversion, and reservoir creation. Iceland has a very complicated relationship with dams and continued power station creation and expansion: they have enough power to sustain the citizens and the local businesses and industry yet are caught in an ever-growing aluminum smelting industry and are building power stations for the sole purpose of foreign business exploiting their renewable energy. The complexities that lie behind the Burfell Dam Project were very hard to see when I was walking into the tunnel hearing about the amazing renewable energy project with international collaborations being made here. 100MW of additional energy is a lot for Iceland, it only has 330,000 people after all. Gazing up at the perfectly arched concrete and enormous pipes strategically placed inside of a mountain I had to remind myself of those complexities to distract myself from being swept away by the sheer genius, power, and human ingenuity that stood in front of me.
Hydroelectric, despite the controversy that surrounds its ecological destruction, accounts for 6.5% of all utility-scale electricity in the United States and is 54% of the renewable electricity generation for the nation.[1] Electricity produced from hydropower has the net smallest amount of carbon emissions per KWh produced, beating out both wind and solar energy. Alas, dams prove to be a huge obstacle for migrating fish populations and flood areas to create reservoirs. Since construction of the Three Gorges Dam in China began in 1994, 1.3 Million people have been displaced by the reservoirs created in order for the dam to be operational.[2]
My mind is still not made up on hydropower. To place such a magnificent power source into “good” and “bad” categories would be a disservice to its energy generation contributions thus far. As we exited the tunnel into the windy mountainside turned construction site I couldn’t help but return to the question that underlies every power station visit we’ve made: Will Iceland’s power generation expansion ever end?
[1] “Energy from Moving Water.” U.S. Energy Information Administration, EIA, 17 June 2017, www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=hydropower_home.
[2] “Hydropower.” National Geographic Reference, National Geographic, 9 Oct. 2009, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/hydropower/.
Sarah Louise Zolondick