Had an idea of a suspended pipeline over the lava field

After the bypass pipeline along the Njarðvík hot water pipeline came under lava and disintegrated, HS Orka had the idea to hang a new pipeline in a susupension system over the lava field with crane trucks on either side.

This was demonstrated at a short briefing held yesterday at the power plant in Svartsengi, which was the focus of the project.

Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir was among the guests, who have been traveling around the Reykjanes peninsula today because of the seismic swarm in the area.

At the meeting, Krist­inn Har­ðar­son, CEO of HS Orka, discussed the problems the company faced after the Njarðvík pipeline burst.

He said it has simplified the task greatly when they were able to build a road across the lava field. In the process, the company put “this crazy idea of a cliff-hanging bridge aside”.

The disappointment is immense

He said the construction of the new road had been very time-consuming and difficult.

Harðarson also described the work on the hot water pipeline that was supposed to connect to the Njarðvík pipeline., where the staff was racing against time until the lava hit the door.

He said the lava flow was extremely thin and rapid. The disappointment was enormous when the Njarðvík hot water pipeline failed, as there was a lot of investment in it.

During the meeting, Harðarson also talked about how it was amazing that high-voltage masts had not gone under lava because the lava was almost as high as the soil that had been put around the masts masts.