Bitcoin Miner Using Paraguay Itaipu Dam to Power Its New Facility
Bitcoin mining firm Sazmining has opened its latest 100% renewable power facility in Paraguay.
The corporate operates customer-owned Bitcoin mining rigs on their behalf, taking a 15% fee for the service. Its new facility will get energy from Itaipu Dam, the nation’s largest hydroelectric dam. Positioned on the border of Paraguay and Brazil, the construction has earned itself the Guiness World Report for costliest object on earth, costing a whopping $27 billion to construct in 1984—or $35 billion should you alter for inflation.
Sazmining President Kent Halliburton advised Decrypt that attributable to Paraguay’s distinctive hydropower producing dynamics, it was promoting 5 Gigawatts of energy at a loss to its neighbor, Brazil. That’s why native authorities and communities embrace the corporate’s presence, he mentioned.
Tapping into Itaipu Dam and shopping for their surplus energy as an alternative of Paraguay exporting at a loss, “turns a headwind for Paraguay’s GDP right into a tailwind,” mentioned Halliburton.
Bitcoin mining is an integral piece to the community, however has a considerably controversial relationship to power markets. Specialised computer systems generally known as ASICs faucet into completely different energy producing sources and run the Bitcoin software program with the intention to safe the protocol, incomes BTC in return.
The above implies that the price of power is a vital consideration for Bitcoin mining corporations. As per Sazmining, mining prices of their new facility can be $0.047 per-kilowatt hour within the new facility–a considerable distinction between the world’s main Bitcoin mining nation, the US.
For the sake of comparability, the newest power value report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics discovered that power prices sit at $0.17 per-kilowatt hour—though that may differ broadly relying on location and throughout industries.
Halliburton mentioned Sazmining is ready to get all of its energy from the dam, that means the brand new facility runs on 100% renewable power.
Texas is usually highlighted as certainly one of Bitcoin’s strongest mining sectors, with refined applications to assist the grid in instances of stress, but in addition make use of their extra energy. For Halliburton, Paraguay is poised to develop into “the brand new Texas”—however he admits the grid there’s nonetheless a lot much less developed than the lone star state.
This presents an upside with a caveat, he advised Decrypt. By agreeing to 95% energy uptime as an alternative of 100%, he mentioned, the corporate was capable of make the most of decrease charges. That mentioned, Halliburton is assured the grid will proceed to develop and import among the applications presently current in Texas. As an illustration, miners in Texas are given power credit in alternate for turning their rigs off throughout instances of excessive demand.
Paraguay is a proverbial bit within the total mining bucket, nevertheless. As of September 2021, the Cambridge Middle for Various Finance (CCAF), positioned Paraguay’s hash price manufacturing at 0.15% of the whole Bitcoin mining community.
The Middle has up to date its index earlier this yr, however didn’t instantly reply to a request from Decrypt about its map information.
Sazmining’s President likes this quantity, nevertheless.
“I see it as a chance for these of us that perceive the dynamics in Paraguay,” he mentioned, including that they’re positioning themselves forward of the “seemingly inevitable rush of Bitcoin miners.”
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
