• General State of the Economy
• Energy Resources
• Energy Balance
• Energy Infrastructure
• Education and Innovation
• Ecology and Environment Protection
• References

Source: [1,2,3,4,5]

The rating positions of Iceland relative to other countries have been determined for an extensive list of economic, energy, innovative and educational indices, as well as for metrics reflecting the state of the environment. The economic indices include, for example, GDP per capita, annual average GDP growth, high-technology exports, and others. The list of energy indices includes proven reserves of oil, gas and coal, production-consumption ratio combined, and energy use, etc. Each of the indices has a ranked list of included member countries. Since the number of countries in each rating is different for each index, the positioning of the country of interest is displayed on a special chart, where the vertical axis is a uniform relative scale from 0 to 1, whereas the horizontal axis denominates the various indices and respective numbers relating to the descriptions given underneath.

Thus, in such a relative “0-1” diagram, the country’s position is marked with a dot in proportion to its location in the original rating list. If the country is among the leaders regarding the selected indicator, it will be marked close to 1 in the upper green zone on the relevant chart “0-1”, if the country is an outsider in the rating list, then it will be marked in the lower red zone of the chart “0-1”, etc.

Ranking position of Iceland for list of economic indices:

For most of the economic indicators shown in the chart, Iceland is above the middle of the ranking lists. The weakest spots in Iceland economic indicators are GDP (0.33), Inflation rate (0.36) and High-technology exports (0.46). Iceland has the best indices among those presented for 2021 Index of Economic Freedom (0.94), GDP per capita (0.90) and The Global Competitiveness Index (0.82).

Iceland has no significant fossil fuel reserves and imports 100% of its oil and coal. Iceland's energy mix is free of natural gas.
The country meets about 85% of its primary energy needs from renewables, namely hydropower and geothermal power. Moreover, Iceland generates almost 100% of its electricity from these two renewable sources (Fig.5).
Iceland has favorable conditions for the development of wind power. In a number of regions of the country, especially on the coast, wind speed reaches 9.5 m/s at a height of 50 m. Due to the high latitude, Iceland has relatively low GHI intensity, which means limited solar power potential. 
The main energy resource of Iceland is hydroelectric and geothermal energy. The country has an enormous hydro’s gross theoretical potential of 184 TWh/year. The most powerful hydro-based power plants are located in the southwest of the country in the area of glacial rivers Thjórsá and Tungnaá, while multiple smaller hydroelectric plants use the flow of Icelandic streams and rivers throughout the country.
In Iceland there are geothermal fields with high and low temperatures, which are distributed essentially all over the country. The geothermal potential of Iceland is estimated at 4300-7000 MWe. Geothermal power plants have two main areas of concentration – the first in the southwest of the country in the area surrounding the capital Reykjavik, the second in the North-east Iceland.

Table 1.Renewable energy resources of Iceland

*for most of the territory of the country
**gross theoretical capability

REYKJAVIK, Country: ICELAND, Latitude: 64.13, Longitude: -21.94
Sky cover, %



HVERAVELLIR, Country: ICELAND, Elevation: +0641.0m, Latitude: 64.87, Longitude: -19.57
Average speed: 7.43 m/s, Operational share: 84%

Wind speed, m/s


 

According to [12], in 2022, the total production of primary energy in Iceland was 0.068 quadrillion Btu, while consumption was at the level of 0.115 quadrillion Btu. Thus, the share of domestic production in primary energy consumption was about 59.1%. This makes Iceland a country dependent on energy imports.
According to the Statistical Review of World Energy 2022 [13], primary energy consumption in Iceland in 2021 amounted to 0.21 exajoules. According to the Islandic National Energy Authority, in 2020 primary energy use was covered about 90% by renewable energy sources [14].

As already mentioned, today almost 100% of the electricity consumed in Iceland comes from renewable energy. Iceland's total electricity production in 2022 was 19.86 TWh, of which about 70% was produced by hydroelectric power plants and another 30% was distributed among other renewables, the lion's share of which is geothermal energy. Over the past 10 years, the amount of electricity consumed has grown insignificantly and is satisfied by domestic production.
The chart of Iceland's energy indices is presented in the figure below.

The following chart shows Iceland's positions in terms of education and innovation:

Iceland has a fairly high share of internet users relative to the total number of its population (0.98). The indicator of the absolute number of Internet users is well below the global average (0.29), which is due to the small population of the country. Iceland is very well positioned in terms of Government expenditure on education (0.93) and Research and development expenditure (0.88), as well as in The Global Innovation Index Ranking (0.87). No Icelandic university is included in the QS World University Rankings 2022, leaving this indicator blank.

Indicators related to environmental issues are presented in the following diagram:

[1] List of sovereign states and dependencies by area / Wikipedia / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_area
[2] List of countries and dependencies by population density / Wikipedia / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density
[3] Iceland / The world factbook / Library / Central Intelligence Agency / www.cia.gov
[4] GDP, PPP (constant 2011 international $) / World Bank, International Comparison Program database. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org
[5] GDP per capita, PPP (current international $) / World Bank, International Comparison Program database. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org
[6] Wind Map / Global Wind Atlas 2.0, a free, web-based application developed, owned and operated by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in partnership with the World Bank Group, utilizing data provided by Vortex, with funding provided by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). For additional information: globalwindatlas.info
[7] Agricultural land (% of land area) /Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org
[8] Forest area (% of land area) /Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / www.worldbank.org/[16] World Energy Resources: Hydro World Energy Council / 2013 / Publications / World Energy Council / www.worldenergy.org
[9] World Energy Resources: Hydro World Energy Council / 2013 / Publications / World Energy Council / www.worldenergy.org
[10] 2016 Annual U.S. & Global Geothermal Power Production Report (PDF) / 2016 / Reports / Geothermal Energy Association / geoenergy.org
[11] Municipal waste statistics Updated / 19 July 2018 / Full list / Statistics Explained / Eurostat / ec.europa.eu
[12] International Energy Statistic / Geography / U.S. Energy Information Administration (Dec 2022) / www.eia.gov/beta/international/
[13] BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2020-2022 (PDF) / BP / www.bp.com
[14] Energy Data / National Energy Authority ORKUSTOFNUN / nea.is/the-national-energy-authority/energy-data/
[15] A Sustainable Energy Future. An Energy Policy to the year 2050 / Government of Iceland / www.stjornarradid.is/library/01--Frettatengt---myndir-og-skrar/ANR/Orkustefna/201127%20Atvinnuvegaraduneytid%20Orkustefna%20A4%20EN%20V4.pdf

The sources of charts and curves are specified under the images.

For more information about the energy industry in Iceland see here