Iceland ponders energy exports via world's longest sub-sea cable

One of the fundamental issues with energy production is that where it is produced and where it is used are rarely the same. Take, for example, a dense city like New York or London -- where would you put all that equipment to support the energy needs of a massive population?

Therefore, a key concern is transmission and distribution -- getting the power where it needs to go. (Example No. 2: the Midwest is great at generating wind power, but aside from Chicago, there aren't too many places nearby to send it.)

The northern island nation of Iceland is evaluating what it would take to build the world's longest sub-sea electric cable, allowing it to export its geothermal energy to mainland Europe, according to an Agence-France Presse report.

The country's largest energy company, Landsvirkjun, said Monday that research for the project, which began last year, is on track to finish by the end of 2011. With that knowledge, officials can decide whether to press on with the project or abandon it.

It's no secret that Iceland took the recent global economic downturn very hard -- so residents are looking for ways to use the nation's isolation and myriad volcanoes and geysers as an asset, not a drawback.

On the drawing board for receiving such energy is Britain, Norway, Holland and Germany -- guaranteeing a cable at least 745 miles long, with potential to stretch up to 1,180 miles.

The hope: that Iceland can sell an estimated five terawatt-hours, or approx. five billion kilowatt-hours, annually -- enough to power 1.25 million European homes.

At current prices, that's about $400 million in revenues each year.

The question is how much it will cost to actually implement. Officials remain tight-lipped about that figure. But the project may just be the 21st century solution to augment its age-old strength in fishing.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com