UK in Talks with Iceland to Tap Geo Thermal Energy from Volcanoes

The UK government is planning to power up British homes with the help of geo thermal energy, generated from the Icelandic volcanoes.

Plans are on the pipeline to lay thousands of miles of high-voltage cables across the ocean floor to pump low-carbon electricity into the UK.

"We are in active discussions with the Icelandic government and they are very keen," the Guardian quoted Charles Hendry, Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change as saying.

The energy minister is planning to visit Iceland in May to discuss connecting the country to its abundant geothermal energy resources. He claimed that by using the geo thermal energy produced by the volcano, energy bills in Europe can be reduced.

According to the minister, the geo thermal energy would be transported with a huge Interconnector cable which would have to be 1,000 to 1,500 km long.

"The cables are an absolutely critical part of energy security and for low carbon energy," said the minister.

Hendry has already met the head of Iceland's national grid to decide on the plan, according to the newspaper report.

The geothermal power will help generate more power with the help of wind, wave power of northern Europe and solar power in southern Europe and North Africa.

It is expected to deliver reliable, clean energy and helps to meet climate change targets and reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports.

The UK government officials also said that the interconnectors will require large investment. Earlier, the Britain and Netherland interconnector cost around £500 million.

However, this statement was contradicted by others.

"Interconnectors are the cheapest way of backing up wind, because you avoid the greater capital cost of building power stations. We will of course be buying power in when the wind is not blowing, but the interconnectors mean we can sell our wind power when it does, and we have the best wind resource in Europe," said Doug Parr, a chief scientist and Policy Director at Greenpeace UK, according to the Guardian.

But, Simon Less, head of the environment and energy at the think-tank Policy Exchange is of the opinion that major new interconnection in north Western Europe might not offset much of the backup plant due to high pressure winter and weather patterns that can extend low wind conditions right across Europe.