Located close to Reykjavík in the Reykjanes peninsula, HS-Orka is primarily focused on geothermal energy both in terms of creating electricity and heating. The vast amount of waste heat that is a byproduct of its generation has created a great opportunity for innovation in further utilising the geothermal resources. From a natural spa to fish farms and other high-tech start-ups, the motto of HS-Orka has been to not think inside the box “there is no box”.

At CHARGE last year, Ásgeir Margeirsson, CEO of the company talked about football and how geothermal energy has created better footballers for Iceland. In his presentation, he showed that there was a correlation between the number of geothermally heated indoor soccer halls in Iceland and the rise of the nation’s national football team up the FIFA rankings ladder.

HS-Orka has focused on progress and the company is passionate about doing better than before and being brave. “There are many ideas that fail but that is alright”. Ásgeir went on to say that there is nothing as waste, waste is simply something that they haven’t found a use for yet.  The key to finding new ways to turn waste into a useful resource, according to Ásgeir, is to have an interdisciplinary discussion between people of different backgrounds both from the power companies and innovators.