What does it take to drill a geothermal well? ISE students see the industry up close
We rarely think about what happens before we turn on a light or switch on the heating. Yet behind the electricity and hot water we use every day is an enormous amount of engineering, infrastructure, and expertise.
In Iceland, geothermal energy plays a major role in supplying electricity and heating. But accessing that energy requires much more than drilling a hole into the ground.
Students from Iceland School of Energy (ISE) at Reykjavík University recently had the opportunity to see what that involves during a visit to an active geothermal drilling site at Hellisheiði, hosted by Iceland Drilling.
Seeing geothermal drilling firsthand
Following a safety briefing, two members of the Iceland Drilling guided students around the site, introducing them to the equipment and infrastructure required for drilling a geothermal well.
From drill pipes and well casing to drilling fluid systems and the equipment powering the rig, students explored how different parts of the operation work together.
For Elín Dagmar, a master's student in Energy Engineering at ISE, seeing the scale of the operation brought classroom learning into perspective.
We had learned about drilling equipment and well design in class, but seeing everything in person made it much easier to understand how the different components fit together and why they are important.
Elín Dagmar
MSc Energy Engineering student, Iceland School of Energy
Sjors Wulff, an Applied Physics bachelor's student from the University of Twente in the Netherlands who is currently on exchange at ISE, was particularly impressed by the monitoring room and the amount of information drilling operators must manage to maintain safe and efficient operations.
Learning from experience
The visit was part of ISE's four-week Drilling and Well Design course, taught by geothermal drilling consultant and senior lecturer Sverrir Þórhallsson.
With decades of experience in geothermal drilling, including work on the Iceland Deep Drilling Project and international training through the GRÓ Geothermal Training Programme, Sverrir brings practical industry knowledge into the classroom.
The visit also showed the value of learning alongside students from different academic backgrounds.
As Elín explained, "I think it made the experience more interesting because people approached the visit with different perspectives and asked different kinds of questions."
By bringing together experienced instructors, industry professionals, and students from different backgrounds, opportunities like this help connect technical education with the realities of the energy sector.
Iceland School of Energy thanks Iceland Drilling for welcoming the students and sharing its expertise.
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