Earthquake in Iceland temporarily shuts down two turbines at Svartsengi

Alexander Richter 30 May 2009

A recent earthquake of 4.7 on the Richter scale in the South-West part of Iceland shut down the geothermal power plant at Svartsengi temporarily.

The plant shut down yesterday night while the earthquake. Two turbines  that together have a capacity of 60 MW shut down, so only 15 MW were online while the shut-down.

HS Orka’s Albert Albertsson, no. 2 at the company, said it is normal for turbines to shut down with a self protection system.

It took an hour to start up the turbines again and there was no power shortage, as there was a power buffer available within the power network. Both power plants of the company, Svartsengi and Reykjanes,  were checked last night, but no damage has been discovered and the pressure on the plant’s wells is unchanged.

There are also no visible changes/ damages through the earthquake in the surrounding mountains.

HS Orka is the power generation part of what used to be Hitaveita Sudernesja and is owned around 30% by Geysir Green Energy.

Source: Icelandic Visir