Tell us about your organisation?

Orkusetur is the primary national energy agency in Iceland. Established in 2006, the agency has been active in various energy efficiency projects ever since.

Iceland is a world leader in the adoption of renewable energy, with 100% renewable energy in electricity and heat usage. It has always been a key priority in Iceland to maximise energy efficiency and Orkusetur actively engages with various institutions, industries, and individuals to achieve maximum service with minimum use of energy.

Iceland is also a world pioneer in the use of environmentally friendly geothermal heat. 90% of households have access to this unique resource but 10% still rely on electricity for heating.

Orkusetur works with electrically heated communities to reduce this electricity consumption in heating with heat pumps and other mechanisms.

Iceland produces no domestic fossil fuels but remains reliant on the importation of fossil fuels for use in the transport sector and decreasing this dependency is a key objective. Orkusetur is actively involved in increasing green and domestic energy uptake in transport and therefore positioning Iceland as fully independent from fossil use in the coming decades.

Give us an overview of your region?

Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Population distribution is very uneven: the population is concentrated on the small southwestern coastal plain where 75% of the population lives.

Iceland has an abundance of natural resources and various renewable energy sources such as hydro and geothermal energy. The electricity production per capita is by far the highest in the world, not because the average citizen is wasting energy but because energy intensive industry is using around 80% of all electricity produced.

Akureyri is the biggest city outside the capital area, with just over 20,000 inhabitants. Our office is located in Akureyri and we work closely with the wider municipality on various energy related projects and initiatives.

Who are you working with in your organisation and region on the SMARTrenew project?

Orkusetur is actively working with many organisations and industries. For our SMARTrenew project, we work with Vistorka (www.vistorka.is) which is a municipality owned organization working on several environmental projects.

The local energy company, Fallorka (www.fallorka.is) will take ownership of the daily operation of the solar and wind energy solutions that are under construction in the SMARTrenew project in Grimsey.

Grimsey is a part of the municipality of Akureyri so cooperation with the municipality is essential to the impact and success of the project.

Why is renewable energy important to your region and what can it gain from SMARTrenew pilots?

Grimsey is the last oil using community in Iceland. We want to phase out oil usage on the island and cease the domestic use of fossil fuels in the electricity and heating sectors in Iceland.

What would you like to achieve under SMARTrenew?

The SMARTrenew pilot in Grimsey will reduce fossil fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in the region and we envisage that the initiative will also open up a new era of small PV and wind energy installations in Iceland. There is a lack of awareness in Iceland regarding utilizations of solar and wind energy and through our SMARTrenew pilot, we aim to increase overall awareness among citizens and policy makers in the country.

The goal is to not only implement the renewable energy system, but also to find ways to integrate such measures to existing energy systems and design support schemes that will encourage adoption elsewhere in Iceland.

SMARTrenew also facilitates significant knowledge transfer among partners, enabling Orkusetur to gain valuable insights and learn from other regions of the Northern Periphery and Arctic Area.