El Salvador, the first country to accept Bitcoin as a legal tender, has announced a plan to build one of the world’s largest BTC mining farms using green energy sources. The Volcano Energy company is handling the project. The public-private partnership aims to invest $1 Billion in a 241-megawatt power generation park using solar and wind energy in the country’s Metapan region.
Volcano Energy, which is chaired by Bitcoin maximalist Max Keiser, has received funding from the crypto giant Tether. Keiser said that the funds would go towards creating an environmentally friendly BTC mining operation that would utilize excess energy from the power plant. The company is projecting to generate a processing power of over 1.3 exahashes per second. This computing power would place the mining operation in the top 20 pools worldwide.
The project is part of El Salvador’s ambitious vision to leverage the power of Bitcoin to develop the economy and attract investments. President Nayib Bukele, a known Bitcoin advocate, has also proposed using geothermal energy from volcanoes to power Bitcoin mining. El Salvador is one of the top geothermal energy producers in the whole world. Bukele has spearheaded the country’s BTC adoption. He envisioned the number one digital asset as a tool to attract tourists and to help bring in remittances.
$1 Billion for Bitcoin Mining
The project has already received an initial $250 million investment out of the $1 billion committed. Power generation will be taken from two major sources, solar and wind energy. 169 MW will be generated from solar power and 72 MW from wind energy. These two will have a combined output of 241 MW. For context, this is enough to supply electricity to 100,000 households per day.
Bitcoin Mining Explained
Running and securing the Bitcoin Network entails the use of a network of mining rigs. These mining rigs solve complex mathematical puzzles as a way to validate and record transactions. The first miner to solve the puzzle gets to add a new block to the chain and gets rewarded with Bitcoin.
Bitcoin mining makes it hard to crack, but it consumes a lot of electricity. This drawback has led some anti-crypto sectors to label BTC and other Proof-of-Work assets as a contributor to climate change. However, there have been some studies that show that crypto mining gets a big chunk of its energy from renewable sources.
El Salvador is Preparing for the Future
El Salvador will hit multiple birds with its renewable energy project for Bitcoin mining. The country is currently attracting capital from the crypto industry, because of its progressive stance on digital assets. Its adoption of Bitcoin is also seen as a tool to give its people greater financial access. The Volcano Energy project will also give the country more renewable energy sources which will cut its dependence on fossil fuels and at the same time help El Salvador accumulate more Bitcoin. There will only be 21 million BTC and the country is set to grab its share before other countries catch up.
Featured Image from Pixabay
