LANDSVIRKJUN

Their core work

Landsvirkjun is Iceland's national power company and one of Europe's largest renewable energy producers, operating geothermal and hydroelectric power plants. In H2020, they contribute real-world operational expertise from managing deep geothermal wells in Iceland's extreme volcanic geology. They serve as a living laboratory for testing enhanced geothermal systems, providing access to high-temperature reservoirs and operational data that academic partners cannot replicate. Their participation bridges the gap between geothermal research and industrial-scale energy deployment.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Landsvirkjun's H2020 trajectory shows a shift from applied geothermal deployment toward more fundamental geoscience. Their early work (DEEPEGS, 2015) focused on drilling, stimulation, and seismic risk management for deep enhanced geothermal systems — essentially making EGS commercially viable. Their later projects (EUROVOLC 2018, REFLECT 2020) moved toward understanding the underlying science: volcanic systems monitoring and the thermodynamic properties of geothermal fluids including mineral solubility, silica scaling, and extremophile biology. This progression suggests they are investing in the foundational knowledge needed for next-generation geothermal exploitation.

Moving from "how to drill deep" toward "how to understand and optimize what's down there" — expect future interest in supercritical geothermal resources, mineral extraction from brines, and geothermal-volcanic hazard integration.

How they like to work

Landsvirkjun participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as an industrial end-user providing real-world test sites and operational data rather than leading academic research. With 56 unique partners across 22 countries from just 3 projects, they join large, pan-European consortia where their value is providing access to Iceland's unique geothermal infrastructure. They are not a repeat-partner organization but rather a sought-after industrial contributor that different research groups invite into their consortia.

Despite only 3 projects, Landsvirkjun has built connections with 56 partners across 22 countries, reflecting their participation in large research consortia spanning most of Europe. Their network is strongest in geothermal-active countries and volcanology research communities.

What sets them apart

Landsvirkjun offers something almost no other consortium partner can: operational access to Iceland's deep, high-temperature geothermal reservoirs in an active volcanic zone. They are not a research lab simulating conditions — they are a national utility company running these systems at industrial scale. For any consortium needing real-world validation of geothermal technologies, Landsvirkjun provides both the physical infrastructure and the decades of operational knowledge to make field trials possible.

Highlights from their portfolio

• DEEPEGS
  Their largest H2020 investment (EUR 137,756), focused on deploying deep enhanced geothermal systems — directly aligned with Iceland's ambition to tap supercritical geothermal resources.
• REFLECT
  Addresses a critical gap in geothermal science — understanding fluid properties at extreme conditions — essential for optimizing energy extraction and managing scaling problems in deep wells.