- U.S. energy company Nodal Power is using methane gas from landfills to create electricity, some of which it uses for Bitcoin mining
- The company has secured $13 million to expand operations to three plants
- Founded in 2021, Nodal Power utilizes Bitcoin mining as secondary revenue during grid fluctuations
U.S. energy company Nodal Power has revealed that it is to turn some of the electricity it generates from waste methane to Bitcoin mining. The Salt Lake City-based company yesterday revealed that it has secured $13 million in funding to expand its operations and “aggressively mitigate methane emissions at landfills,” which will see the company generate electricity from the gas that escapes such facilities. Not all of this electricity will be sold, however, with the company reserving a portion to mine bitcoin.
Methane Needs Capturing
The concept of methane capture from landfills dates back to the 1980s, although of course the technology has moved on in leaps and bounds in the last 40 years. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, has 25 times the heat-trapping capability of carbon dioxide, underscoring its greater impact and the need for targeted mitigation, with landfills a huge creator of the gas. Nodal Pwer generates renewable electricity through harnessing the methane gas produced by the decay of organic waste in these landfills.
Nodal Power was founded in 2021 with the idea of turning waste methane into electricity and yesterday announced that it has secured $13 million in funding to grow its facilities. The company notes that a significant portion of the funding has been used to establish and operate two power plants within the United States, with a third planned for early 2024.
Bitcoin Mining When Grid Doesn’t Want Electricity
Matthew Jones, Nodal Power’s co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, told Decrypt that Bitcoin mining is a “secondary tool we use when grid economics aren’t as favorable,” allowing the company revenue when it doesn’t have the ability to sell the power it generates to the grid.
Nodal Power isn’t the first company to use waste elements to mine Bitcoin. Last February ConocoPhillips, Alaska’s largest crude oil producer, struck a deal to route excess natural gas which would otherwise be ‘flared’ (burned off) from one of its North Dakotan projects to supply power to a nearby Bitcoin mining operation. In Guatemala, a riverside village has taken to using oil that would otherwise pollute the river to feed a small-scale Bitcoin mining plant.
