Ohio-based independent power producer, Energy Harbor Corporation has penned a five-year deal with Standard Power to provide an eco-friendly and carbon-free means of mining Bitcoin. Leading hosting provider for mining companies, Standard Power will leverage Energy Harbor’s nuclear electricity to provide sustainable, reliable, and clean energy to power its mining center in Ohio from December 2021. Speaking on the latest partnership, Energy Harbor’s President and Chief Executive Officer, John Judge said:
“We are grateful that Standard Power has granted us the opportunity to serve them. We are happy to partner with customers who are focused on minimizing their impact on the environment while driving a new clean energy future in our local Ohio economy. This is another example of the value we provide to our customers and communities as we continue our growth strategy across all sales channels within our retail business.”
Standard Power CEO Maxim Serezhin emphasized on the company’s steadfastness and commitment to fulfilling its goal of achieving carbon-free Bitcoin mining. He further cited the low electricity costs as the reason for locating mining centres in Ohio. He said:
“We selected Ohio because of its low electricity costs with availability of carbon-free sources of energy. By partnering with Energy Harbor, we have proactively structured our hosting capabilities to ensure that 100% of the power associated with this facility is carbon-free.”
Positive Moves
The partnership is a giant leap in the right direction and a huge win in the quest for an eco-friendly method of Bitcoin mining. Bitcoin’s rise to an all-time high of $64k was abruptly halted by harsh regulations following debates of the environmental threats posed by mining the digital asset. China had issued a cease-and-desist order forcing mining pools like HashCow and BTC.Top to stop operating in the country, stating that Bitcoin mining and its adverse environmental effect was conflicting with its goal of attaining carbon neutrality. The news caused a freefall in Bitcoin price and in its hash rate (a measure of Bitcoin’s processing power) with the latter recording an eight-month low after plummeting by 50% from its May all-time high. It would nosedive further to record a new all-time low on June 27th.
Similarly, electric vehicle maker Tesla reversed its decision to accept Bitcoin payment for vehicles until at least 50% of mining operations are carried out using sustainable energy.
“When there’s confirmation of reasonable (~50%) clean energy usage by miners with positive future trend, Tesla will resume allowing Bitcoin transactions.” Elon Musk said.
After facing criticisms from the Bitcoin community for the u-turn, Elon Musk, alongside Microstrategy boss, Michael Saylor, met with executives of North American Bitcoin mining companies to form the Bitcoin Mining Council. The new group will focus on ensuring a transition from energy-intensive Bitcoin mining to sustainable, green and carbon-free mining.
Conclusion
Energy Harbor’s collaboration with Standard Power signals the stepped-up drive to fully adopt sustainable Bitcoin mining mechanisms. Achieving this will further give Bitcoin an edge over alternative stores of value and perhaps, place it in pole position to become the global currency.
