THE NEW ERA OF CRYPTOCURRENCIES PROPELLED BY WIND ENERGY POWER
It is undeniable that cryptocurrencies markets have experienced a rampant growth in the last few years. It is not surprising therefore that crypto mining has become an activity highly dependent on energy, which is required to carry out calculations needed to verify transactions.
Enel SpA, which is considered Europe’s largest utility, has recently engaged in negotiations to sell power mainly from wind, solar and other renewable energy plants to the well-known Swiss cryptocurrency company Envion AG. The discussions are part of a broader effort by Enel to evaluate the market for selling electricity to miners of bitcoin, etherium, ripple and other digital currencies, who are in great need of large amounts of energy to perform calculations needed to verify transactions.
According to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, power demand for mining bitcoin went up to about 20.5 TWh/year by the end of 2017. The global industry’s power use already equals that of 3 million U.S. homes. As more bitcoins are created, the need for electricity increases.
That’s the reason what companies like Enel, are taking the lead to seek cryptocurrency miners that could become key customers to buy excess capacity from wind, solar and hydro-electric generating plants.
Enel is especially interested in understanding how the energy business can benefit from the blockchain technology, in an attempt to encourage cryptocurrency miners to move their facilities to places where electricity is cheap, building up new clusters that could result in mutual benefit.
Envion has raised $100 million though a month-long crowdfunding campaign to build a network of portable digital currency mining units designed to plug directly into wind farms, solar farms and other clean-energy installations. Envion says the technology will allow it to move operations to wherever energy is cheapest.
Envion is evaluating locations to start installing its systems and is in talks with power generators around the world, Laurent Martin, the company’s director of investor relations, said in an interview.
Envion’s business is not only attractive to our many investors, but also to utilities around the world.