Following the Journey of Heat: Moderator Visits Iceland's Energy Infrastructure
Dr. Gifty Oppong Boakye | GEROSION | July 6, 2026
Energy innovations in Iceland showcased
Most people think of electricity when they think about energy
But in reality, heat is often the missing piece of the puzzle.
Across Europe, enormous amounts of heat are generated every day from industrial facilities, power plants, and increasingly from data centers. Too often, that heat is simply released into the environment.
The MODERATOR project is built around a different idea: what if heat wasn't treated as waste, but as a valuable resource?
This question felt especially relevant when MODERATOR partners gathered in Iceland for the latest consortium meeting hosted by Gerosion.
MODERATOR Group in Gerosion HQ.
Collaboration, progress and alignment
The MODERATOR consortium gathered in Reykjavik, Iceland, on 15–16 June 2026, for its 30-Month Plenary Meeting. The two-day meeting brought together partners from across Europe to review progress, share technical developments, and align upcoming activities.
The discussions highlighted the interdisciplinary nature of MODERATOR, where materials science, thermal energy storage, insulation technologies and waste-heat recovery systems come together to address Europe's energy challenges.
Project partners shared progress across work packages and discussed the next steps towards the integrated MODERATOR pilot.
Seeing heat in action: lessons from Iceland
Geothermal energy and district heating at ON Power
After the technical sessions, partners visited ON Power, one of Iceland's leading renewable energy companies.
We saw firsthand how geothermal resources are harnessed to generate electricity and, just as importantly, how the resulting heat is captured and distributed to provide district heating to communities.
Heat as a resource, not a by-product
At ON Power, heat is not viewed as a by-product. It is captured, distributed and used to provide heating to homes and businesses through an extensive district-heating network.
For MODERATOR, this connection is at the heart of our mission: valuable heat only becomes truly valuable when it can be delivered where and when people need it.
Visiting ON Power provided first-hand insight into how geothermal resources are transformed into electricity and district heating for Icelandic communities.
Carbon storage in practice: the Carbfix technology
The final stop of the visit introduced us to Carbfix, the pioneering Icelandic technology that permanently stores carbon dioxide underground through natural mineralisation.
CO2 is dissolved in water and injected into suitable rock formations, where it reacts to form stable minerals.
This innovative solution provides long-term carbon storage and demonstrates how technology can turn a global challenge into a lasting solution.
While MODERATOR focuses on recovering and storing thermal energy, Carbfix shows how innovative thinking can transform another challenge, carbon emissions, into a long-term storage solution.
The visit concluded at Carbfix, where partners learned how captured CO₂ is permanently mineralised underground, demonstrating another innovative approach to building a low-carbon future.
A shared vision for a sustainable energy future
The visit was a reminder that the future energy system is not built around a single technology. It relies on a combination of renewable energy, thermal storage, heat recovery, district heating networks, and carbon management working together.
For the MODERATOR consortium, seeing these systems operating at an industrial scale provided valuable context for the work being carried out across the project.
Because ultimately, the goal is not simply to store heat.
It is to ensure that valuable energy can be recovered, preserved, and delivered, creating the best benefit for communities.