Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen

First, allow me to congratulate you on this important conference. I am really delighted to see that so many experts and managers from so many countries are taking part in this conference about geothermal district heating systems. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to give some opening remarks.

I think that one can say that Reykjavík is the birthplace of modern geothermal district heating and Iceland has for more than a century worked on and invested in its geothermal district heating systems. Geothermal district heating is so much a part of everyday life today in Iceland that most Icelanders, especially the “young” generation (under 50 years) do not remember or realize the effort that was put into its development. Geothermal district heating has become so much an integrated part of our society that we almost do not notice it. 

For the rest of the world where clean district energy is needed this is a different story. Heating costs in many countries are high, the CO2 emissions from generating the needed thermal energy are staggering. We don’t have to go far to see this reality, about half (50 percent) of the energy used in the European Union is for heating and cooling - by far the largest portion is for heating. And the EU countries get about 70% of their thermal energy from fossil fuels and 20% from biomass. This has remained stable for a decade. But the potential for low temperature geothermal heating is there and should be utilized. Good examples exist in countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Netherlands and Portugal. And there are great potentials in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Greece. Also, in Asia, Iceland has taken an active part in developing geothermal heating and cooling systems in China where today you find the world’s largest geothermal district heating systems. 

In 2014, Iceland received a formal recognition from Cornell University for its leadership in green energy and sustainability. This award was given to Iceland for its accomplishment in the area of technology development and utilization of geothermal and hydro energy resources in an integrated fashion to create a sustainable future for the country. The geothermal district heating systems played a huge part in this formal recognition.

Well over 80% of the primary energy in Iceland now derives from renewable resources and here, the district heating systems play the biggest part. Today, Iceland is estimated to have saved about 22 billion dollars because of using low temperature geothermal energy for space heating instead of importing coal and oil. And of course, this has saved the atmosphere for millions of tons of CO2.

Sustainability is more than just a concept in Icelandic society. Sustainability has shaped the country and laid the groundwork for our prosperity. Our energy infrastructure is unlike any other in the world and Iceland is a global leader with over 95 percent of its electricity and heating provided by renewable geothermal and hydro energy. 

Iceland’s renewable energy represents more than 85 percent of Iceland’s primary energy supply, in contrast to the global average energy supply where about 80 percent is derived from fossil fuels.

In our common effort to combat climate change, we need to utilize all forms of renewable and clean energy. Geothermal energy is part of the solution. Low temperature geothermal energy district heating and cooling systems are important in that context. We know that this form of energy can be widely found, and Iceland is open to sharing its success in sustainable energy development and utilization with other countries.

Ladies and gentlemen,
It is my hope that this event may become a platform for the Geothermal District Heating Sector to come together and share knowledge, experience, good and bad, and to form new partnerships to speed up the development of geothermal district heating systems. Europe will not reach its goals, the world will not reach its goals, for emission reduction without large scale investment in clean district energy systems where low temperature geothermal resources are utilized. Here today, in this room, are the people that can assist with making that happen.
I therefore take this opportunity to express my satisfaction with that a whole session of this conference is devoted to the EEA Grants and the opportunities they offer for funding geothermal district heating projects.  As you know, the EEA Grants are funded by Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. The Grants have two goals:  to contribute to a more equal Europe, both socially and economically, and to strengthen the relations between Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, and the 15 beneficiary countries in Europe. Iceland has from the outset placed priority on using the EEA Grants to support the utilization of geothermal energy, because environmentally sound and reliable central heating is fundamental for social progress and economic well-being.

I hope you have a productive conference, there is much to be done and little time to achieve it. 
Thank you!