Brochures

Originally, the cluster organisation got the name Iceland Geothermal, but was expanded to Iceland Renewable Energy Cluster 2018 (IREC). IREC is a nonprofit organisation that aims to promote geothermal as a comparative renewable energy solution for society and businesses. Utilisation of high and low temperature geothermal resources creates high-value jobs and improves quality of life and social wellbeing. Investment in geothermal solutions is a long-term investment that offers baseload energy generation and a vast variety of other related revenue streams, derived from cascading strategies. Geothermal resources are sustainable and renewable base-load energy solutions that improve energy security and growth.

The IREC and its members take part and host events and workshops, organize delegation and share knowledge and experience and assist in promoting geothermal at a country-to-country level. The cluster organisation takes an active part in defining best practice for the sector and building up international collaborations to map best practice. The cluster performs analysis, published reports and papers. IREC is involved in international collaboration and is a member of the International Geothermal Association (IGA) and Geothermal Global Alliance (GGA).

As previously described, the mapping looked to the already mature energy sector in Iceland that had centuries of experience working with hydropower and geothermal resources. Within the sector unique sets of skills and knowledge had accumulated, specifically around geothermal utilisation. Iceland had been active in sharing its knowledge with equipment manufacturers, specialists and other countries through delegation visits. However, a unified platform focused on developing business and innovation opportunities was missing. Iceland Geothermal Cluster is a business-driven cluster aimed at sustaining the competitive advantage of the geothermal industry.

Several working groups were established under the Iceland Geothermal name and a workshop was held in Reykjavik in May 2011. The idea of an international conference soon emerged and it was decided that an international conference should be held in the name of the cluster initiative. The conference should focus on business development and utilisation. The quality of the conference should be benchmark based on participation of industry leaders, influential speakers and, if possible, new business opportunities created. This was at the time in contrast to most other conferences that were focused on academic aspects, and the quality was commonly measured in the number of publications introduced at the event.