Mining
Huge Wind Farm to Power Bitcoin Mining Will Be Built in North Africa
Julio Gil-Pulgar · @gil_pulgar | Jul 28, 2018 | 01:00
As Bitcoin mining becomes more expensive and is criticized as being detrimental to the environment, several initiatives are being put forward to reverse this situation. The latest move comes from Brookstone Partners, which involves building a 900-megawatt wind farm in Morocco dedicated to mining Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Mining To Minimize Carbon Footprint
Critics have always argued that Bitcoin mining is a threat to the environment. They point out that cryptocurrency mining consumes huge amounts of electricity, often citing the fact that the Bitcoin network consumes more power than the Republic of Ireland.
Indeed, Digiconomist estimates that Bitcoin consumes more power than some countries, such as the Czech Republic, Chile, and Austria.
Moreover, Bitcoin energy consumption continues to grow relentlessly. By the end of 2018, the Bitcoin network could be using over 125 terawatt-hours per year, as the chart below forecasts. A terawatt is a unit of power that equals one trillion watts:
However, Bitcoin’s biggest problem is its carbon footprint. According to Digiconomist:
Bitcoin’s biggest problem is not even its massive energy consumption, but that the network is mostly fueled by coal-fired power plants in China. Coal-based electricity is available at very low rates in this country. Even with a conservative emission factor, this results in an extreme carbon footprint for each unique Bitcoin transaction.
Thus, to address the issues of increasing electricity costs and environmental damage and to build computing centers powered by environmentally clean, utility-scale renewable green energy, Brookstone Partners founded Soluna.
Mining Bitcoins Using Clean, Low-Cost Renewable Energy
The planned giant 900-megawatt wind farm to mine Bitcoin will be built in North Africa, Bloomberg reports. The site chosen for the farm is at a remote Moroccan location, in Dakhla, on the edge of the Sahara Desert, by the Atlantic Ocean. According to Soluna’s website:
Soluna aims to address this problem by building computing centers powered by environmentally clean, utility-scale renewable green energy. Our mission is to power the crypto-economy with clean, low-cost renewable energy. To do this, we are building a blockchain infrastructure and mining company that owns its own renewable energy resources.
Bitcoin mining in Morocco? It may happen if this fund can build a giant wind farm first https://t.co/QEGCGt2OER pic.twitter.com/kIWHmYmmua
— Bloomberg (@business) July 27, 2018
Brookstone is a private equity firm with its headquarters in New York. It specializes in strategic acquisitions, add-on acquisitions, and growth capital. The firm also focuses on middle market investments in public and private companies.
Bitcoin enthusiasts are encouraged to learn about Brookstone Partners’ initiative, which involves converting wind energy into valuable electrical energy to mine cryptocurrencies. Wind is considered the cheapest energy source available.
How do you think using alternate energy sources such as wind will impact Bitcoin mining? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of iStockPhoto, Digiconomist, Bloomberg/@business
