Hydro-Quebec will finally make 500 megawatts (MW) available to cryptocurrency mining, leaving many contractors hungry. “We think we can connect customers this fall,” stated the Hydro-Quebec spokesman Jonathan Cote, on Thursday.
In the coming days, Hydro-Quebec will file a request for proposals with the Energy Department but it is the regulatory tribunal that will have to set a new electricity rate for this class of Canadian corporation’s customers.
Annually, Hydro-Quebec plans to supply 5 terawatt-hours (TWh) to meet this rapidly growing sector, even though it has significant energy surpluses.
A ministerial decree, tabled last week, now regulates the sale of energy to cryptocurrency mining projects, a technology that, as it is well-known already, requires powerful computers which consume a lot of energy.
Over 300 cryptocurrency mining projects have applied for the upcoming Hydro-Quebec energy plan
Hydro-Quebec says it has received more than 300 cryptocurrency mining projects applications in the recent months for a potential demand of more than 15,000 MW on its system.
Recently, Hydro-Quebec senior management met in Montreal with leaders of the Chinese cryptocurrency mining giant Bitmain, which wants to establish itself in Quebec, Canada.
Hydro-Quebec currently offers a 120 MW block to the cryptocurrency mining industry but several cryptocurrency entrepreneurs informed on Thursday that they are very disappointed with this new government policy and they demanded for more. Some of these local cryptocurrency miners fear they won’t be able to compete with the big players of the cryptocurrency mining industry as some of them, such as the before-mentioned Bitmain, are already in the picture and in discussion with the Canadian government.
The Crown corporation, on the other hand, plans to use “forced load shedding” to have access for 300 hours in winter to electricity from these companies while the Quebec power grid is operating at maximum capacity.
Quebec province is the ideal place in Canada, and one of the few in the world, as the annual average temperature is ideal for cryptocurrency mining equipment to work flawlessly and cost-effective, and this is why many cryptocurrency miners are drawn to this region.
