Power utility firm Landsvirkjun plans to undertake some of the largest investments the company has ever carried out in the coming years. A total of ISK 190.000.000.000 will be invested over the next five years.
Landsvirkjun plans to spend ISK 190.000.000.000 on construction projects over the next five years. Despite the ambitious plans, the company still intends to pay dividends of ISK 15.000.000.000 to ISK 20.000.000.000 each year.
Landsvirkjun presented its results for 2025 at the company’s annual meeting in Harpa yesterday. There the chair announced projects worth ISK 190.000.000.000 over the next five years.
Brynja Baldursdóttir, chair of Landsvirkjun, set out the plans.
We are going to build Hvammsvirkjunar power plant, which is a hydropower station, we are going to expand Sigalda [power plant], we are going to build Vaðalda which is the first wind power plant in Iceland and the first wind turbines will be commissioned this autumn, and then we are expanding [geothermal facility] Þeistareykir.
The installed capacity in these power stations will be about three hundred megawatts, which will help the company attract new customers, says Hörður Arnarson, chief executive.
These are customers connected with land-based aquaculture and food processing, and also data centres. In addition, this will very much support the energy transition in society.
Landsvirkjun has certainly proved to be a cash cow for Ríkissjóður (the State Treasury). ISK 20.000.000.000 will be paid in dividends this year and over the past five years the company has paid around ISK 110.000.000.000 in dividends to Ríkissjóður. Despite the planned investments, this is expected to continue, says Hörður.
Investments always affect the ability to invest. But we hope to be able to continue paying strong dividends in the range of ISK 15.000.000.000 to ISK 20.000.000.000.
There was strong enthusiasm for construction at the meeting, both among representatives of Landsvirkjun and the government, as there are few obstacles to power development projects in parliament.
At Landsvirkjun people remain wary after the issues around Hvammsvirkjunar power plant, which is many years behind schedule, partly because of repeated court cases and appeals.
Alþingi recently passed a bill simplifying the process under the Master Plan for Nature Protection and Energy Utilisation, and another bill before parliament is intended to simplify administration and shorten processing times at Umhverfis- og orkustofnun (Environment and Energy Agency).
Hörður places high hopes in those bills, and the newest power projects in the utilisation category will be the test of whether the legislation has achieved the intended results.
The next projects, which will be Holtavirkjun and Skrokkölduvirkjun, will show whether the permitting process has become more efficient than in recent years. That is certainly needed.
Source: Ruv.is
