Canadian crypto mining group Hive Digital Applied sciences plans to construct a 100MW datacenter in Paraguay to leverage hydro energy produced on the huge Itaipu dam.
The challenge was confirmed following conferences held between Hive executives and senior Paraguayan officers – together with President Santiago Peña, who has sought to make the nation a hub for overseas tech investments.
“This potential opportunity is expected to add up to an additional 6.5 exahash per second (EH/s) to our bitcoin mining operations, increasing our global EH/s to 12.1 EH/s. This represents a significant milestone in our diversified growth strategy and supports our commitment to expanding our global footprint with datacenter operations in Canada, Sweden, Iceland and now Paraguay,” Hive’s chairman Frank Holmes mentioned in a launch.
Exahash is a unit for hash charges, that are utilized in knowledge mining to measure the mixed computing energy of a cryptocurrency community.
One exahash is the same as one quintillion hashes per second. This implies 688 quintillion guesses are being submitted to the blockchain each second.
Hive didn’t present particulars as to schedule or to projected capex for the positioning.
Nonetheless, it mentioned the datacenter is anticipated to generate greater than US$100mn in income for state energy firm Ande over the subsequent three years.
Hive additionally mentioned it has recognized the datacenter web site and superior in securing building and energy provide contracts.
The transaction is topic to closing agreements, due diligence, board approval and regulatory approvals, particulars of which it plans to announce quickly.
The corporate added that future expansions in Paraguay will rely upon “stability in government fiscal policies” akin to power pricing and taxation.
Hive mentioned that it’ll rent regionally, producing 1000’s of jobs, and provide grid balancing and demand response to assist industrial growth, whereas monetizing surplus or under-monetized energy belongings.
“Additionally, as the company’s energy bills will be paid in US dollars, its operations in Paraguay offer a unique opportunity for the government by providing stable monthly US dollar income, acting as a strategic currency hedge, and ensuring financial stability in an increasingly volatile global currency market,” the corporate mentioned.
In 2023, electrical energy constituted 13.2% of Paraguay’s whole exports, it added.
FOOTPRINT
Hive mentioned it prioritizes its datacenters in chilly climates with entry to low-cost renewable/inexperienced power, therefore the selection of Canada, Sweden, Iceland and – as a result of power issue – Paraguay. The 14GW Itaipu plant is shared 50:50 with Brazil.
In Canada, the corporate runs a big fleet of bitcoin miners (roughly 3 exahash/second) whereas in its Swedish services it operates a fleet of NVidia GPUs and servers centered on processing capability for AI, machine-learning, and HPC workloads.
Hive reported annual revenues of US$115mn for its fiscal 12 months ended March 31. In the course of the interval, the corporate mentioned it mined 3,123 bitcoins and held 2,287 bitcoins price US$161mn on its stability sheet at year-end.
The corporate mentioned it elevated its bitcoin mining hashrate by 57% within the fiscal 12 months to 4.7 exahash from 3.0 exahash in March 2023.