Volcano power: Icelandic scientist plan to drill down to magma

KMT’s second borehole will develop a test-bed for a new generation of geothermal power stations, which exploit magma’s extreme temperature.

“Magma are extremely energetic. They are the heat source that power the hydrothermal systems that leads to geothermal energy. Why not go to the source?” asks Prof Lavelle.

Some 65% of Iceland’s electricity and 85% of household heating, comes from geothermal, which taps hot fluids deep underground, as a source of heat to drive turbines and generate electricity.

In the valley below, the Krafla power plant supplies hot water and electricity to about 30,000 homes.

“The plan is to drill just short of the magma itself, possibly poke it a little bit,” says Bjarni Pálsson with a wry smile.

“The geothermal resource is located just above the magma body, and we believe that is around 500-600C,” says Mr Pálsson, the executive director of geothermal development at national power provider, Landsvirkjun.