Mining is one of the most important aspects of the cryptocurrency industry, as without miners’ transactions wouldn’t be added to the chain and the network would simply crumble. It feels as if almost every other week a new crypto mining farm is opening and contributing to the network hash rate. Morocco is one of the very few nations on the planet that has actually outlawed crypto transactions, so a new crypto mining farm opening in the country comes as a bit of a shock.
The development of the new 36-megawatt mining farm will begin in early 2019. The mining rigs will focus on mining cryptos using the SHA-256 algorithm – the same algorithm that Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash are both mined with.
An Unusual Arrangement
The company behind the project is called Soluna and it is planning to leverage some rather unusual local laws to mine its Bitcoin. It has access to 37,000 acres of land to build a wind farm – around 900 MW of power. Now, the land it owns isn’t connected to the central grid yet, so it cannot sell the power to the national grid and make money – it will be years before the government installs a grid connection to the region. So, instead of wasting money on the land, it will press ahead with a wind farm. It will also build a crypto mining farm as well. It will then use the wind power it generates to mine cryptos and turn a profit.
The plan is for the company to break even and recover its costs before the government eventually run a grid line through its parcel of land. This would then give Soluna a distinct advantage over other suppliers of power in the country. This could be one of the first crypto mining companies to set up without access to a national grid.
Crypto Mining in a Hydroelectric Dam
There are plenty of green crypto mining firms out there, in fact one firm recently converted an old hydroelectric dam into a huge crypto mining farm. In Valatie Falls, NY, one firm bought the town’s old hydroelectric dam, refitted it with the latest kit and uses the power it generates to mine Bitcoin. The demand for clean and green energy in crypto mining is increasing, as such companies are becoming more innovative as the weeks pass.
Once Soluna is up and running with its grid connection, it will continue to mine cryptos and will sell 20% of the power it generates back to the grid in an effort to remain ultra-profitable. This could prove to be particularly useful, especially during bear market periods. Soluna is serving up a novel approach to the wonderful world of crypto mining, so many – including us – will be interested to see how it goes.
