Iceland sees strong potential for deeper energy cooperation with India, particularly in geothermal energy, carbon capture and storage, and green hydrogen.
“I think India has great geothermal potential, but it is still largely untapped,” said Iceland’s Minister of the Environment, Energy and Climate Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson.
In an exclusive chat with StratNewsGlobal, he said Iceland was ready to share its expertise and work with Indian companies and institutions.
For Iceland, geothermal energy is also an important part of energy security. The extensive use of domestic geothermal resources has reduced the country’s exposure to volatile international energy markets. “It is a question of energy security and resilience,” he said.
Iceland is one of the world’s leading users of geothermal energy, and Jóhannsson believes its experience could be relevant to India. “Geothermal energy is 24/7, stable power that can work very well with wind and solar and help us create a more stable energy system,” he said.
Pointing to projects involving Indian and Icelandic partners in geothermal heating, agricultural drying and cooling, he said geothermal energy should not be viewed only as a source of electricity.
Around nine out of 10 Icelandic homes are heated using geothermal energy, while geothermal energy accounts for about 40 per cent of the country’s primary energy mix.
For India, he felt cooling could be an especially important application given the country’s growing demand for cooling and rising temperatures.
Iceland’s expansion of geothermal energy was driven largely by necessity. Jóhannsson said the country began systematically expanding geothermal heating after the oil crises of the 1970s, when high and volatile oil prices exposed the risks of dependence on imported fossil fuels.
“The country began systematically expanding geothermal heating following the oil crises of the 1970s, when high and volatile oil prices exposed the risks of dependence on imported fossil fuels,” he explained.
“This has made us more competitive, it has made energy more affordable, it has made Iceland a more equal country and it has made us more resilient.”
The India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement could provide a broader framework for cooperation between India and Iceland.
While energy is an important area, he said opportunities also existed in marine technologies and tourism, he added. The agreement was already beginning to generate new collaborations, with Iceland focused on turning ideas into projects.
“We are here especially to help create opportunities, turning ideas into real projects,” he said. Describing India’s growing policy focus on geothermal energy, as “very forward-looking,” he together with the India-EFTA framework, it could create more opportunities for companies and institutions in both countries.
Carbon capture and storage is another area where Icelandic expertise could support India’s energy transition.
Jóhannsson highlighted cooperation between Icelandic companies and Indian industrial players on technologies to capture carbon dioxide and either convert it into useful products or permanently store it. He referred to an Icelandic company working with Indian steel and industrial producers to explore ways of converting captured CO2 into methane.
The minister said Carbfix, an Icelandic technology company whose technology permanently stores carbon dioxide by turning it into stable minerals underground, was already engaging with Indian companies and exploring potential applications in India.
The technologies could be relevant to sectors such as steel and cement, where emissions are difficult to eliminate through electrification alone.
While Iceland has developed significant clean-energy expertise, its small domestic market limits the scale at which new technologies can be deployed. “India can create opportunities for us to scale up the technologies and know-how that we have already developed in our small country,” he said.
Indian investment and manufacturing capabilities could help Icelandic companies expand their technologies into larger markets, he added.
Iceland was also exploring the next generation of geothermal development, involving drilling deeper into the Earth’s crust to access higher temperatures, which could increase the amount of energy generated from geothermal resources and potentially increase the productivity of individual wells several-fold.
The changing global energy landscape has made energy security an increasingly important consideration. Geopolitical conflicts and disruptions in international energy markets have demonstrated the risks of heavy dependence on imported fuels. “I think it’s healthy for countries to have a diverse energy mix,” he said.
Reflecting on his visit to India, the minister said he was encouraged by the enthusiasm he had seen for clean energy. While acknowledging that the global transition is not happening quickly enough to address the climate crisis, he felt a clean-energy revolution was nevertheless under way.
“The world is burning, but we see a clean-energy revolution taking place in the world,” he said. “I see that India is going to take part in it.”
