Foreword
Lämpövoimakerho (LVK) is once again heading overseas for the traditional overseas excursion. This year will be the 39th time that a group of energy engineering students travel abroad to familiarize themselves with the energy industry in foreign countries. We will head to Iceland, the land of fire and ice, after which we travel to Scotland. Both locations provide unique perspective to the energy field, through geothermal energy and massive amounts of offshore wind – to name a few.
First, we will spend a week in Iceland (16.-23.8.) visiting powerplants and seeing the beautiful sights and nature the country has to offer. Reykjavik will act as our base from where we make trips to the excursion sites and nature. After that we will head to the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, where we will stay between 23.-28.8. On Sunday 28.8. we will head north to Aberdeen to visit one of the other major cities in Scotland before we return on September 1st.
The main purpose of this overseas excursion is to explore and get to know as the energy field in the destinations. We will visit a great variety of companies, projects and powerplants. Iceland is well known for having almost 100 % renewable energy production mainly by hydro power and geothermal energy – both being in our agenda. Scotland on the other hand is one of the locations in UK where offshore wind is in heavy focus – and we won’t leave without seeing a turbine or two! As Finland is also looking into how to utilize the heat in our bedrock and the winds at sea, the destinations offer a great opportunity to learn more about the technologies we will be designing in the future – even if the resources in Finland are a lot different to Iceland and Scotland.
In addition to the excursions, we will also be learning about the local cultures and have fun with different kind of activities. We are planning to make day trips to the major attractions in Iceland to see famous waterfalls like Gullfoss and Seljalandsfoss as well as other sites like Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach, Geysirs and of course the iconic Blue Lagoon. In Scotland we wish to explore Edinburgh castle and see the Highlands, for example.
We hope you enjoy reading our travel blog! More real-time updates you can find from our Instagram and Facebook accounts. For the first week, you can also follow us on Aalto University Snapchat!
We will add the links to the posts on this page as they come out.
Reykjavik
Day 1 – Arriving to Reykjavik
Day 2 – Stormy day in Reykjavik – the first excursions
Day 3 – Geothermal activities
Day 4 – Disappointments at sea
Day 5 – Waterfalls and bathing on Golden Circle
Day 6 – Kayak Power Challenge
Day 7 – Melting glacier, beaches and puffins
Day 8 – Bye bye Iceland, halló Scotland!
Edinburgh
Day 9 – We did see the graphite
Day 10 – Wave energy & an ocean simulator
Day 11 – Wind turbine and whiskey
Day 12 – Football, food and fancy Old Town
Aberdeen
Day 13 – Moving on to Aberdeen
Day 14 – Online excursion and in person murder stories
Day 15 – Scottish ice cream
Day 16 – Last castle visit
Day 17 – All good things must come to an end
English