Gone are the days when we used coal as a fuel to generate electricity only to fire up electrical appliances and gadgets. What if, we told you that power plants are becoming an indispensable part of crypto- mining? An Australian Technology Company is planning to do just that by reviving a coal-fired power plant just to run a blockchain.
As stated by key statistics of Digicomist, the energy consumption of one bitcoin is around 60.82 TWh per annum. It has steadily increased from 9.47 TWh in March 2017.
Seeing this as an opportunity, Australian innovation firm, The IOT Group, in collaboration with Hunter Energy plans to rekindle the Redbank control plant. The operation at this plant was ceased to diminish its operational costs. The organizations expect that IOT's new power bills will be lessened by 20 percent through utilizing the office when contrasted with its present expenses.
IOT's decision to use a traditional power source is symbolic of a new pattern emerging inside the crypto sector. As indicated by an organizational statement from IOT, it is a harbinger of a growing need for more energy sources within the industry pushing companies to explore newer avenues. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and others require huge measures of energy through mining because of their algorithm called as Proof-of-Work. These mathematical algorithms must be solved by the system in order to mine the cryptocurrency. Sometimes these energy levels are equivalent to few countries’ energy consumptions put together.
Cryptocurrency miners are finding newer ways to enhance computing power in their operations. And to make the entire business profitable, the expenses should be as low as possible. In order to achieve this goal, these companies will leave no stone unturned to find the cheaper sources of energy.
Washington state and Quebec provide very cheap hydroelectric power because of which they have become the center for crypto mining operations. These areas are packed with numerous hydroelectric power plants which generate huge amounts of energy. Crypto miners have a keen eye on this energy as it is very cheap.
The organization has additionally added two experienced crypto miners, such as Mr. Wooyoung Joo and Mr. Chadd Burgess to its IOT Blockchain advisory panel recently.
However, the IOT group initially refused to comment on this. It will be interesting to watch the next move from these cryptocurrency miners.
To conclude, the blockchain technology has turned out to be a profitable business. But the energy requirements for mining of the cryptocurrencies are considerably high. In order to fulfill these requirements, miners are looking for cheap sources of energy. The old and conventional power plants such as this one, are becoming a good option and we can see more reviving of such plants in near future.