Finance: Crypto-Currency Mining Looks to Geothermal for a Reliable Power Source

Geothermal Has a Future (and Present) in Crypto-Currency Mining (HashCore for Medium.com)

Any successful mining operation must secure reliable and competitively priced power. As mining continues to scale and industrialize, demand will increase for baseload power. Firms who develop and operate baseload energy resources will be well suited to take advantage of this.

This is where geothermal developers come into play. Geothermal is the only renewable energy resource that can provide year-round baseload power without having to rely on the grid or costly energy storage. This competitive advantage is evidenced in Iceland, where geothermal energy supplies many of the world’s largest mining facilities.

As this space industrialized, some companies attempted vertical integration of energy production using hydro, solar, and wind. These companies have struggled, because they underestimated the limited capacity factor of these energy resources (≤ 75%). For this reason, the future of mining will rely on vertical integration of geothermal energy production.

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