Ladies and gentlemen!

It is a pleasure to welcome you to this important gathering.

Iceland is not only the land of the vikings but it is also the land of the Sagas. We like to tell stories.

We are here to tell you a story. You could say it is a Cinderella story as it entails how a small country managed to change its energy systems from coal and oil to renewable energy in only one generation. On the way it went from being one of the poorest countries of Europe to one of the richest, and taking the top seat on the UN´s Human Development Index.

Our road to wealth was inextricably linked to our use of green, renewable resources.

Today we are, despite our smallness, a truly global player in the field of energy with a story to tell.

I am privileged to have by my side Mr Piebalgs, the Commissioner for energy, one of the most important portfolios of the European commission. I dare to say – as a minister of industry and energy in Iceland – Mr. Pielbags probably has the most important job in Europe these days. The issue is so urgent and the need for real success is so great.

The Commissioner and I met in Rome – at the World Energy Congress in October - two guys from small European countries and I told him about geothermal power in Iceland , how crucial it was for the development of our nation, and how I felt it had not yet been detected by the radar of the world at large.

I told him about the potential I felt it had for other countries, for Europe .

It is an expression of Commissioners Pielbags leadership and strategic vision that he straight away invited me to Brussels to explain to our fellow Europeans what we feel is the great potential of the most profitable and clean energy resource available, the geothermal energy that can be drawn from – to quote Jerry Lee Lewis - the great ball of fire that is deep down in the earth underneath our feet.  

That´s why we are here today. I have with me a great team of experts and leaders of the geothermal companies that I can confidently state are world leaders. These are the people that today are going to explain to you, distinguished guests, the possibilities of geothermal power in our fight agains climate changes and energy poverty.  

The case for renewable energy is a compelling one. Emission is increasing, climate change is happening before our very eyes, oil prices are skyrocketing, and lack of energy is keeping the poor and needy of countries, even whole continents like Africa , in a trap of poverty.

The European Union is to be applauded for its ambitious targets that really reflect is responsibility as a world player: 20 percent of energy shall be derived from renewable sources in 2020, that is to say, in welve years.

It is a tough task. There is no single solution, no silver bullet.You are going to need a lot of tools, and some you already have,   such as solar, wave and wind power, biofuels, nuclear, hopefully clean coal technology, not to forget hydropower.

However, we would like to contribute to your arsenal a potent weapon that we feel has been unsung, underused and overlooked – the huge potential of geothermal power. What we have to offer is almost a century of experience, proven methods and new technical breakthroughs that in future may drastically enhance the geothermal yield in some countries at least, and unchallenged leadership in terms of experienced and educated manpower.

I always sing the praises of geothermal, but I apart from being a politician I am also a scientist. When I say "huge potential" it is not my wording. The European Federation of Eeologists as well as the European Geothermal council have in a recent letter to commissioner Piebalgs stated, that there is – with their words - a huge geothermal potential existing in Europe,   for direct heating, for cooling application, but also for the production of green electricity.

By the middle of last century 80 % of Icelands energy needs were met with imported coal and oil. The coal ships came from Europe and the coal depot was one of the largest landmarks in downtown Reykjavik . We see in pictures how the coal smog lies over the city, a city which now proudly claims the status as the cleanest capital in the world.

Today, hydro and geothermal are the major energy sources used in Iceland. 99,95% of all our electricity is produced by green energy. Nearly all our houses are heated with geothermal water.

Close to 80 percent of the total energy needs of the whole country are met with these same clean energy sources.

Only 20% of our needs is met with imported fossil fuel, mainly for our fishing fleet and transport.

However, as a minister of industry and energy, with innovation in my portfolio, I can tell you that we are already using our abundance of cheap green electricity in developing new methods to supply the fleet and cars with synthetic fuel with the aim of being a totally carbon neutral country in the middle of this century.

Indeed, I would welcome a cooperation with the powerful EU in this area. We should join hands in using our clean energy resources to develop fuel for the future, for cars or the fishing fleet, as has been done so ambitiously in the ECTOS hydrogen project.

We should work together on developing infrastructure   not only for hydrogen cars and ships, but also electric cars.  

We should combine our efforts in using green electricity in recycling carbon in a new way from the emission of big plants to produce synthetic fuels as Icelandic entrepreneurs are now demonstrating in a pilot project. Nothing aorused as much interest with the big investors in Qatar and Abu Dhabi when I led an Iclandic delegation of business and science there last week.

The backbone of such a joint projects on alternative fuel, however, would always be the renewable energy resources, not least the geothermal, as it enables us to offer in Iceland what so many countries lack: Cheap, Abundant and Clean electricity.

I tell you this, distinghuished audience, because I strongly feel that due to our green energy Iceland is ideally suited as an experimental laboratory for new methods and technology in synthetic fuel for the future.

There are around 140 countries that have geothermal potential. Of these about 40 are ripe for ambitious projects. The technology is available, the political will is emerging, the investment community is finally realizing the profitability of geothermal – and there is a whole world waiting for it. So, ladies and gentlemen, why wait?

We in Iceland have certainly not waited.

Outside Europe , we have already managed to awake the interest in several large and small countries for their own geothermal potential.

We are presently building the largest district heating system in the world in Shaanxi province, China . The Chinese leadership has decided that it wants to work with Iceland in undertaking geothermal projects all over that great country where the resource are quite richer than previously anticipated. When the first heating plant the Icelanders built in China was opened, the Chinese tore down an existing coal plant. Today the leaders of Shaanxi marvel at how the project is contributing to the health and wellbeing of their inhabitants, not only by making them warm and comfortable but also by reducing prespiratory diseases caused by the previous coal smog. Geothermal is about a better quality of life.

I have recently been in the Philippines , as well as Indonesia , that has the greatest geothermal potential in the world – and it could be multiplied with break-through technologies presently under development in Iceland . I met with their presidents and other leaders who are eager and enthusiastic about developing geotheral plants on the great Pacific ring of fire.  

Only last weekend I came back from the Arab Gulf where we discussed partnership with energy rich but future looking countries – with a view to develop geothermal in third countries. For example in Djibouti with whom I signed last week a cooperation agreement.

Djibouti is a case in point. It is dirt-poor, it has only electricity from polluting and unreliable diesel-generators, and it costs 17 cents a kilowatt. It is far too expensive to be affordable to the ordinary citizen, or a small company. To drag a country like Djibouti out of poverty you have to provide them with affordable electricity.

Reykjavík Energy Invest, an Icelandic geothermal company present here today is now ambitiously developing the geothermal energy resources in this small African country which could, if this all works out, transform the energy system, and make electricity available at only third of the present prize.

Using all its geothermal potential would revolutionize the standard of living in Djibouti .

But, what can be done in Djibouti and be repeated in all the countries on the East African Rift Valley, where you have the onvergence of tectonic plates:  Eritrea , Djibouti , Ethiopia – where our foreign secretary was this week, Burundi , Kenya , Tanzania .

Geothermal power is their key to a decent and better future. But, despite our reasonable wealth, we lack investors, hence my visit last week to the Persian Gulf.

And here I present my third  offer of this morning: Why don´t we, Iceland and the EU, work together in eradicating energy poverty of Eastern Africa by means of geothermal power? Wouldn´t that be in the spirit of the good citizenship, the quest for a better world, and for better environment, that we both espouse and extoll?

And for good measures and I´m willing to include Latin America as well!

We already have built a geothermal plant in El Salvador , by a company led by one of the speakers later this morning.

Only this week I had a long and fruitful discussion with my esteemed colleague from Nicaragua. During their visit an Icelandic company, also led by another speaker today, signed an agreement to built a geothermal plant in Nicaragua .

So, the opportunities are everywhere, and the need is colossal.

Now, what about Europe ? Here we no longer have an iron curtain, but also a ball of fire beneaths the earths crust. No Cold war but a hot zone to be harnessed. Poland has a great potential of many kinds, so has Germany where I inaugurated a new site with my friends from Enex last summer. We have projects in Slovakia , in Hungary , Slovenia and our President and the geothermal companies had interesting discussions in Romania this fall.

Italy is an old superpower of the geothermal industry and outside the EU we have Ukraine and Serbia with its famous spa-culture not to mention Turkey with enormous potential. These experts here in the room will give you a fuller picture later on today and I am happy to tell you that the very able people from Geysir Green Energy and Enex have at my request put together an extensive report on the present and potential geothermal utilization in Europe .  

Our UN University geothermal training programme in Iceland – which we are very proud of - has educated people from all these countries and our universities are providing opportunities for students from them to study in Iceland , learning about geothermal energy, to bring back home a new knowledge and experience.

So, if I may dare to throw in a couple of new offers to the EU, Commissioner Pielbags, why don´t we work together to develop the geothermal resources in Europe and to cooperate in educating both young people and professionals about geothermal power?

Geothermal is special as a power source. It has the beauty of being applicable according to the needs. You can heat a single household, provide energy for a small village, a large city and industry which demands stable clean energy. This is why we have a queue of companies wanting to talk to us in Iceland . They all believe it gives them a competitive edge to base their production or services on green energy. The fact is, that all future looking companies in Europe and elsewhere, are looking for stable renewable energy sources to drive their operations in the 21 st Century.

Finally I wanted to mention three areas where we need more research and could transform the geothermal industry. First, the Iceland Deep Drilling Project which Dr Fridleifsson will describe in more detail later. The plan is to develop the methods to drill as far down as 5 kilometres, obtain steam in a much powerful form and to get up to ten times more energy out of each borehole. Secondly the Kalina technology which builds on creating electricity from low temperature areas of around 80-120 degrees.

Thirdly I wanted to mention the possibility for drilling for geothermal energy where the teutonic plates meet on the ocean floor. If we can do it for oil, why not with hot steam? Research is needed into all these fields where we are available to share experience and develop knowledge.

I have pointed out several avenues of potential cooperation in developing and investing in geothermal resources within and outside the European Union.  

I very much would like us to embark together on a journey, that will enable us to work together on reducing emission, creating a lot of renewable energy, reducing energy poverty in the developing countries such as Africa and Latin America , and at the same time, create a lot of exciting and profitable possibilities for companies in Europe .