San Pedro de Boa, Jan. 12 (BNA): A small river in the middle of coffee plantations, sugar cane fields and a forest provides power for a hydroelectric power plant in Costa Rica feeding hundreds of wired computers for crypto-mining businesses.
More than 650 machines from 150 customers operate non-stop from eight containers operating at the plant adjacent to the Poas River, 35 kilometers (22 miles) from San Jose, the capital of a nation that generates nearly all of its energy from green sources.
The plant was forced to reinvent itself 30 years later because the government stopped buying electricity during the pandemic due to excess power supplies in the Central American country, where the state has a monopoly on power distribution.
“We had to pause business for nine months, and exactly one year ago I heard about Bitcoin, blockchain and digital mining,” said Eduardo Cooper, president of the family business that owns a 60-hectare farm, Data Center CR and factory. mentioned.
“I was very skeptical at first, but we saw that this work was very energy-intensive and we had a surplus.”
The hydropower company, with its three $13.5 million 3-megawatt plants, has invested $500,000 venturing into hosting digital mining computers.
Cooper said international miners are looking for clean, cheap energy and a stable internet connection, which Costa Rica has a lot to do with. However, he said that the Costa Rican government should be more aggressive in trying to attract more crypto-mining businesses, although he did not provide any details.
The government did not respond to a request for comment.
Costa Rica lacks specific regulation of cryptocurrencies, unlike El Salvador, which became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as a legal currency in September 2021.
The Central Bank of Costa Rica said it was providing space for technological innovation to allow the fintech industry to take shape, and it was constantly monitoring developments.
So far all Data Center CR clients are local, like Mauricio Rodriguez, a 31-year-old computer security engineer who got into digital mining to make extra cash from home in 2021 with $7,000 worth of equipment.
By his account, having connected his computer to the network at the station that powered the river, “it is much more profitable to install it in this place than at home.”
HF