About 30 fellows of the GRÓ Geothermal Training Programme visited the Icelandic power company HS Orka, the company reported on 16 July 2026. Lárus Þorvaldsson, its supply chain manager, presented the company and led the group through the Svartsengi Power Plant, including its newest generating unit, and then the Reykjanes Power Plant.
As part of their training, the fellows also learned methods of sampling high-temperature geothermal areas, collecting samples from wells and fumaroles at HS Orka’s wells near the Reykjanes Power Plant.
The group included Elbek Ochilov of Navoi State University of Mining and Technology, the programme’s first fellow from Uzbekistan.
The programme, a UNESCO-affiliated training centre, has run in Iceland for 48 years and has trained hundreds of students from developing countries, who typically spend six months in Iceland learning how to use geothermal energy.
Why it matters
Six months of training in Iceland, from well sampling to power plant operation, gives Uzbekistan a specialist trained in the same programme as geothermal engineers from dozens of other countries.
