- The region of Quebec, Canada, has set aside 300 Megawatt of energy production for discount electricity for crypto mining operations
- Canada appears to making a bid for attracting crypto companies to the country
Cryptocurrency mining has always been a job that costs a huge amount in the electricity bills, as the mineable cryptocurrencies, chief among them Bitcoin, rely on “proof of work” for their security. Every ten or so minutes a new block is mined for Bitcoin, allowing a great number of transactions to go through.
The entire process requires huge amounts of electricity for the machines to keep solving the blocks with the additional cost of cooling the devices. Hence, as mining grows, mining isn’t as cheap in most places as it used to be. Quebec, one of the thirteen provinces of Canada, has decided to bet on the future of mining by offering cheaper electricity for miners.
300 Megawatts set aside for crypto mining
According to the recent rules set by the Canadian province’s energy regulators this Monday, Blockchain is classified as a commercial client category and the Hydro-Quebec power utility has been ordered to allocate an extra 300 megawatts for the industry as whole beside the 368 megawatts already available for the miners. This has been done to attract various new mining and blockchain companies to set up shop in the region. The companies willing to do business on Quebec grounds must meet certain criteria in order to be eligible. Some of them being the number of jobs created in Quebec per MW (30%), total payroll of direct jobs in Quebec per MW (30%), Investment in Quebec per MW (30%) and the heat recovery plans (10%) because the heavy computing process does produce a lot of heat which could potentially harm the hardware. Hydro-Quebec claims that the new rules will enable the organization to protect the low rates they offer to their clients and the selection process will begin in the coming weeks.
Previously the Regie de l’energie rejected a proposal by Hydro-Quebec to have miners bid for power and the government insisted that Blockchain clients will pay the two tariffs they’ve been offered so far. This new decision ends the ban that had been put in place to let the province figure out how to deal with energy-hungry clients of the cryptocurrency industry.
Canada trying to attract crypto business
Canada has been showing various efforts and can be termed as one of the leading cryptocurrency based nation because of its low energy costs, high internet speeds, a naturally cool environment, and favourable regulatory system. According to a report by Hydro-Quebec last year, the province stated that they had an energy surplus which was equivalent to 100 terawatt hours over 10 years and also offers the lowest electricity rates in North America.
Without any doubts, electricity is the single greatest expense for any mining operation and in order to make the operation profitable, the organizations must be able to draw power at as cheap a rate as they can find. China had previously led the mining revolution but after its recent crackdown on cryptocurrency mining operations, huge numbers of Chinese miners are now no doubt looking towards Canada.
