Our history (1)

In the 1960s, there was already a public discussion about the possibilities that geothermal energy would give to the people of Suðurnes and the need for the local communities to unite for its activation.

• At a town council meeting in Keflavík on May 26, 1959, a committee was elected to investigate the possibility of heating supply in Keflavík. Later in the year, a heating supply committee was also elected in Njarðvík.
• In 1969, the local government in Grindavík decided to have the Svartsengis area investigated for geothermal energy, which was to be harnessed for central heating in Grindavík.
• In 1971 and 1972, two wells were drilled north of Grindavík, not far from Svartsengi. These holes, which were 240 and 403 m deep, revealed, among other things, that this was a "high" temperature zone (temperature was over 200°C below 1,000 m depth) and the water coming from the holes was salty (with about 2 /3 of sea salinity).

Because of the salinity and the temperature, it was clear that it was not possible to use the water directly, as was done in Reykjavík and most other places, but heat exchange methods had to be developed to use the geothermal heat.

Establishment of HS 

Hitaveita Suðurnesja was established on December 31, 1974, by law from Alþingi, for the purpose of using geothermal energy for domestic heating in the area. When the company was founded, the shares in the company were divided so that the government owned 40% and the seven local authorities, which were then in the area, 60%.

• In 1975, the first cold water was drilled and a heat exchange station was built in Svartsengi. In the same year, Ingólfur Aðalsteinsson was hired as the company's first employee, but he later took over as CEO.
• The temporary station at Svartsengi was put into operation in 1976 and hot water was supplied to the community center Festi in Grindavík, the first house in Suðurnes.
• Another significant turning point in the company's history was in 1978 when geothermal electricity production began with the commissioning of two 1MW steam turbines.

HS Orka is created

Hitaveita Suðurnesja became the first Icelandic energy company to be a limited company in 2000. Following changes to the Electricity Act in 2008, which stipulated the separation of competition and franchise activities of electricity companies, Hitaveita Suðurnesja hf. split into two companies; HS Veitur hf. and HS Orku hf.

• HS Orka owns and operates two geothermal plants, in Svartsengi and Reykjanes. The power capacity of the geothermal plant in Svartsengi is 74 MWe of electric power and 150 MWth of thermal power. The geothermal plant was built in six phases between 1976 and 2015, but during the spring months the thermal power will be increased by 40 MWth.
• HS Orka is the third largest energy company in the country with about 8% of the electricity produced.
• In 2015, HS Orka received an award from the Icelandic Satisfaction Scale in the category of companies in the electricity sales market. The award has been given for the past 13 years and the company has received it 12 times.
• The company received the prevention award from VÍS and the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration in 2015, which is awarded for excellent prevention, environmental and safety issues.