The history of the Master Plan

Ever since the first Nature Conservation Act was passed in Iceland in 1971 (No. 47/1971) the opinion of the Nature Conservation Council was sought concerning  prospective power plant construction. There was an organised collaboration between the Council and the power plant builders in the following years. 

Eighteen years later the Alþingi passed a parliamentary resolution on the protection of waterfalls and hot springs:

The Alþingi resolves to mandate the government to have a plan drawn up under the auspices of the Nature Conservation Council in consultation with the relevant authorities in the field of energy, concerning the conservation of rivers and geothermal areas, waterfalls and hot springs. A draft plan is to be submitted to the Alþingi for presentation before the end of 1990 and the plan to be fully prepared for ratification at a later date".

A decision was made to use the experience from Norway by analysing the conservation aspect and the power plant aspect separately and then compare the two aspects. A working group was established to work on the project. Following some changes in staff and changes in focus points regarding the work, the working group proposed that a long term Master Plan be made regarding the utilisation of hydroelectric power. This proposal was adopted in a programme of action ("Sustainable development in Icelandic society. Programme of Action to the end of the century", in Icelandic) that was approved by the government in February 1997. The government resolved i.a.

That the Minister of Industry in consultation with the Minister for the Environment have a long-term Master Plan drawn up regarding the utilisation of hydroelectric power and geothermal energy, the Plan to be completed before the end of 2000. The Plan is to be in accordance with a coordinated plan in the fields of environment-, energy-, industry- and economic affairs in addition to travel industry issues.  The Plan should specifically cover the conservation value of individual basins and the conclusions then to be aligned with zoning plans"

Phase 1 of the Master Plan

The original goal of the government's programme of action from 1997 was that the Master Plan would be completed before the end of 2000 but this intent did not go through, i.a. because the work did not commence until the spring of 1999. Early in 1999 the government introduced a programme of action under the slogan "Man - utilisation - nature; A Master Plan concerning the utilisation of hydroelectric power and geothermal energy". It stated i.a.:

The goal of the Master Plan is to assess and classify power plant options, both hydroelectric power and high  temperature geothermal areas taking i.a. into consideration power generating capacity, feasibility and other macro-economic values, concurrently with the defining and classification of the impact of such options on natural conditions, natural and cultural historical relics as well as on the interests of those who utilise these same resources. "In this way a foundation is built for the prioritising of power plant options taking into account the needs of society regarding economic activity, the preservation of natural resources, the strengthening of regional areas and the interests of all those who utilise these same resources having sustainable development as a guide"

Such a preliminary assessment of the environmental impact of power plant options would assist energy companies in selecting power plant options and would be a road map regarding a design that would avoid detrimental environmental impact and would minimise opportunity cost. Such an assessment could also reveal where the conservation value would be so high that government authorities would protect individual land areas by law. And finally the assessment would be of use for the zoning authorities when planning land use.

A total of 11 persons were appointed to the steering committee for phase 1 of the Master Plan in addition to the chairman, Sveinbjörn Björnsson, former rector of the University of Iceland. Under the steering committee four expert committees were defined. The first part of the Plan covered the years 1999-2003 and the first part concluded with a report that discussed 19 power plant options for 10 glacial rivers and 24 power plant options in 11 high temperature geothermal areas.

Phase 2 of the Master Plan

The goal of phase 2 that began in 2004 was to work towards further exploration and preparation for more power plant options and to study further various options that had been assessed during phase 1 since the available research was not considered to be sufficient. In the first part of phase 2, 2004-2007, there were further studies made and judgment regarding the continuation was commissioned to a three man steering committee. A twelve member steering committee succeeded the earlier committee in September of 2007.  A total of 83 power plant options were submitted for assessment in phase 2 of the Master Plan. Maps of these power plant options can be seen here. Lists of options regarding hydroelectric power and geothermal energy show these options and various numerical information on them. Explanatory notes with the lists can be found here (in Icelandic). 

The steering committee completed its task in the beginning of July 2011 and submitted a report to the Minister of Industry and to the Minister for the Environment with a comprehensive assessment and a ranking of the projects that were taken up for deliberation. According to the Master Plan Act, the Minister of Industry in consultation with the Minister for the Environment introduced a proposal for a parliamentary resolution in the Alþingi concerning the classification of power plant projects based on the proposals of the steering committee for phase 2 of the Master Plan. The proposal for the resolution was passed by the Alþingi on 14  January 2013.

Phase 3 of the Master Plan (2013-2017)

The third phase of the Master Plan was a milestone, being the first phase of the Master Plan that was carried out according to the new legislation, the Master Plan Act . The overarching task of the third phase was to further the evaluation of the energy options that could not be appropriately categorized in the second phase. A number of new energy options were also introduced and, for the first time, options in wind power were considered.

88 power options were initiallty submitted to be evaluated by the steering committee. Due to time and budgetary constraints, it proved impossible to evaluate all power options in detail. Instead, 26 were selected for detailed evaluation. 

The steering committee of the third phase submitted its recommendations for categorization of power options (in Icelandic only) to the Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources on August 26 2016. Table 1, p. 2, shows the energy utilization category; table 2, p. 3, shows the protection category and table 3, p. 4, shows the on-hold category.

According to the Master Plan Act , every phase of the Master Plan concludes with the expert committee submitting its recommendations for categorization of power options to the Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources. The minister presents those as a proposal for a parliamentary resolution to the Icelandic Parliament, in collaboration with the Minister for Industries and Innovation. Once Parliament has passed the proposal, the parliamentary resolution on the categorization of power options becomes legally binding. 

A proposal for a parliamentary resolution on the categorization of the power options evaluated in the third phase of the Master Plan was presented to the Icelandic Parliament in fall 2016 and again in spring 2017 . Neither of those proposals was fully processed by the Parliament and thus never came up for a vote. The parliamentary session of fall 2017 was too short to allow for the re-introduction of the proposal.