Landsvirkjun, () the National Power Company of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, is Iceland's largest electricity generator. Landsvirkjun operates 18 power plants in Iceland concentrated on five main areas of operation.

History

Landsvirkjun was founded on 1 July 1965 by the state of Iceland and the city of

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

. The city of Reykjavík contributed to the company three power stations on the

Sog River Sog (; more commonly Sogið ) is a river in Iceland. It runs from the lake Þingvallavatn for to its confluence with the river Hvítá, forming the river Ölfusá which then runs for another 25 km into the Atlantic Ocean. Its average disc ...

. Shortly after its founding construction on the Búrfell hydropower station began. From 1965 until 2005 the purpose of Landsvirkjun was to produce and distribute high voltage electricity. The municipality of Akureyri acquired a 5% share in Landsvirkjun in 1983 and became the third owner. Three hydropower stations on the Laxá River previously owned by the municipality of Akureyri were merged into Landsvirkjun. The hydropower stations Búrfell, Sigalda, Hrauneyjafoss, Blanda, Sultartangi, Vatnsfell, and Fljótsdalsstöð were all built by Landsvirkjun. The geothermal power station Krafla came under Landsvirkjun's ownership in 1985. Through a new electricity act in 2005 the company's Transmission Division became Landsnet, an independent limited company and a subsidiary of Landsvirkjun. Landsnet owns and operates the Icelandic transmission system and manages the country's electricity system. In 2007 the state of Iceland took over the ownership shares of Akureyri and Reykjavík in Landsvirkjun, turning it into a public partnership, fully owned by the state of Iceland. In December 2012, Landsvirkjun erected two wind turbines, in an area known as Hafið, within the construction area of Búrfell Power Station, in the south of Iceland. The turbines have a total of 2 MW of installed power.

Power stations

Landsvirkjun has 18 power stations, of which 14 are hydropower stations, three geothermal power stations and one wind power field.

Subsidiaries

Landsvirkjun has five subsidiaries: * Landsnet (64.7% of shares are owned by Landsvirkjun) is the

transmission system operator File:Electricity grid simple- North America.svg, 380px, Simplified diagram of AC electricity grid from generation stations to consumers rect 2 243 235 438 Power station rect 276 317 412 556 Transformer rect 412 121 781 400 Electric power transmis ...

(TSO) of the Icelandic high-voltage electricity grid. * Landsvirkjun Power uses Landsvirkjun's knowledge to conduct consultancy projects in matters related to energy on the international market. * Orkufjarskipti provides telecommunication services. * Icelandic Power Insurance is a

captive insurance Captive insurance is an alternative to self-insurance in which a parent group or groups create a licensed insurance company to provide coverage for itself. The main purpose of doing so is to avoid using traditional commercial insurance companies, ...

company, which handles insurance and reinsurance for Landsvirkjun's power stations and, in addition, supervises insurance for construction projects. * Hraunaveita ehf. took on specific tasks in connection with the Kárahnjúkar Project, but now has no operations.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Electric power companies of Iceland

History

Power stations

Subsidiaries

See also

References

External links