Fieldtrip to Búrfell Power Plant
The 2018 cohort of UNU-GEST fellows were invited to stay at the National Power Company’s, Landsvirkjun, Búrfell Power Station in south-central Iceland for a writing retreat focusing on their final assignments from the 15th to the 16th of March.
23 fellows, along with staff members Erla Hlín Hjálmarsdóttir and Randi Stebbins, visited the Búrfell Power station. Marsha Henry, Associate Professor at the London School of Economics and Deputy Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security also joined the group, but she has been contributing to the module on gender, peace and security. On the way back to Reykjavik, the group went sightseeing by Hjálparfossar waterfall and Þingvellir national park.
Landsvirkjun was established in 1965 with the start of the Búrfell Hydropower Station. The station came online four years late, harnessing the power of the river Thjórsá with a tailrace tunnel from the Bjarnarlón Reservoir to the station located in the valley named Thjórsárdalur, which is renowned for its striking nature and beauty.
At Búrfell, the group was welcomed by Hörður Árnason, the CEO of Landsvirkjun. In his address, he stressed the importance of Landsvirkun’s gender equality strategy, which aligns with Landsvirkun´s aims for supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
The day was divided into working sessions, conducted by Randi Stebbins, the module coordinator for the final assignments, sightseeing in the vicinity of the station, and a live session from a side event of the 62nd Commission of the Status of Women, held in New York, on the Road to End Child Marriages. The event was co-hosted by UNU-GEST along with the governments of Malawi, Zambia and Iceland with UN Women.
On Friday, Jóhanna Harpa Árnadóttir, the project manager for corporate social responsibility at Landsvirkun, delivered a presentation on Landsvirkun’s policy for corporate social responsibility. Selma Svavarsdóttir, Head of Internal services at Landsvirkjun presented the gender equality policy of Landsvirkjun and the steps that the company is taking to bridge the gender gap in different areas.
UNU-GEST and Landsvirkjun are both founding members of Sustainable Energy for All, which is a global initiative to work towards the achievement of SDG#5 and SDG#7, the goal to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all (see further www.seforall.org). This collaboration has resulted in Landsvirkjun’s support of the UNU-GEST programme and its fellows. The UNU-GEST team extends its heartfelt gratitude to Landsvirkjun and its team for a memorable stay at the Búrfell Pow
er Station.
