Affordable, promising hydroelectricity for Bitcoin Miners in Washington state are starting to fade.
a 29% rate increase One for hydroelectric power in Chelan County, built specifically for cryptocurrency miners, took effect on June 1. Miners paid a low, high density load rate for their electricity. Now they will pay a newly created cryptocurrency rate known as Rate 36.
Chelan County Public Utility District (PUD) Commissioner Gary Arsenault told a local news outlet, “What we did as a commission, and what we did as a utility, was industry-leading, a demand for this type of business.” to create a new rate.” KPQ,
Washington state provided about two-thirds of all hydroelectric energy generated in the US in 2020, according to Energy Information Administration, The state’s Grand Coulee Dam, located on the Columbia River in Grant and Okanogan counties, delivers 6,809-MW of power Hydroelectric power plant- seventh largest in the world.
bitcoin mining in usa
Cheap and renewable hydroelectricity has also made Washington state a popular destination for bitcoin miners. Washington state accounted for 4% of the total US hash rate in December, according to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance.
The hashrate is a measure of the total computer power on a blockchain. Each hash represents a “guess” on the cryptographic string. On proof-of-work blockchain networks such as bitcoin, the miner who correctly guesses the block value wins the right to verify a transaction and receives a reward. One exhash represents one quintillion such estimates and requires a lot of power.
Washington’s stake in the US hash rate is not the largest by a long shot.
Georgia produces 31%, Texas and Kentucky make 11% each, and New York produces 10%. However that may soon change if New York Governor Cathy Hochul signs into law a two-year crypto mining moratorium. He is expected to veto or sign the bill next week.
Last year, publicly traded Canadian bitcoin miner Bitfarms (BITF) acquired a 24-megawatt (MW) Washington facility operated by the Grant County Public Utility District.
The facility generates 17% of the electricity to drive Bitfarms’ entire 3.4-exhash operation, which includes Quebec, Canada and Paraguay.
energy transition on the table
But now there has been some upheaval.
KPQ also reported That nearby Douglas County has stopped allowing new bitcoin miners to set up operations there because they already consume 25% of the county’s available energy.
Nevertheless, the Chelan County rate hike will not ban crypto miners. For companies that have made substantial investments in their mining facilities, officials have approved transition plans to gradually increase energy rates over the next two years.
“We need some sort of transition. It’s important for business,” PUD Commissioner Ann Kangdon told Wenatchee World on Tuesday. “I understand how businesses need this in order to plan.”
Even with the transition plans in place, there has been criticism from the crypto industry.
Salcido Enterprises CEO Malachi Salcido told local news outlets that the new rate will force them to reconfigure three of their Chelan County crypto mining facilities into data farms. It has four other crypto mining facilities, two in Douglas County and two in Grant County.
Under the new pricing plan, Salcido could keep its Chelan facility at a lower, higher-density energy rate if it processes data instead of mining crypto. Data processing uses the same power as crypto mining, he told Wenache World.
“Do you really want to be in the business of regulating what kind of processing happens on servers in your area,” Salcido said.
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