Kenyan energy company KenGen has put out a call to Bitcoin (BTC) miners to move nearby and buy its excess renewable power capacity.
КенГен потраживања 86% of its energy is generated from renewable sources, mostly geothermal from pockets of ground source heat in the Great Rift Valley. Local news outlet The Standard пријавио that KenGen has space at its new industrial park in Olkaria, near its flagship geothermal power station, which could be rented to Битцоин рудари.
The acting director of geothermal development at KenGen, Peketsa Mwangi, said that his company was willing and eager to have the miners call Kenya home:
“We’ll have them here because we have the space and the power is near, which helps with stability.”
Despite his enthusiasm, there have not yet been any reports of miners looking to go to Kenya.
Cambridge’s Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) сугерише that the eastern African nation currently houses no known Bitcoin mining operations, but it appears to be ideal for miners due to the region’s estimated potential 10,000 MegaWatt (MW) of geothermal energy capacity.
KenGen is currently running at a maximum generating capacity of 863 MW after installing another geothermal power plant in April према to Kenyan financial news outlet Capital FM.
By inviting miners to the country, KenGen may be able to accomplish several goals at once. It can increase miners’ environmental sustainability, which has come under great scrutiny around the globe. Mining consumes 119.5 Terrawatt hours (TWh) per year, more than the entire country of the Netherlands, according to CBECI. Only 31 countries consume more energy.
It may also drive demand for more development in KenGen’s power grid to increase total supply and reduce cost. Kenya currently has the 12th most expensive electricity in the world, where one-kilowatt hour (KWh) costs about $0.22, према то Статиста.
The high cost of electricity in the country may be due to its electrification rate. By 2020, only around 70% of the population had access to the centralized grid, према to the WorldBank. Energy grid tracker Energypedia државе that Kenya’s high cost to connect to the grid poses a “major obstacle” to its expansion.
The Kenyan government could also enjoy greater revenue through fees from miners and even taxes. The Kazakhstan government, for example, is poised to earn as much as $1.5 billion in revenue from miners over the next five years, although it only raked in $1.5 million in Q1 2022.
Релатед: Дневни приход од рударења биткоина пао је у мају на најнижи ниво од једанаест месеци
Kenya enjoys an especially high rate of crypto adoption from its volume of peer-to-peer transactions.
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has been exploring its options with a central bank digital currency (CBDC since last year. CBK stated lower fees and faster transfer rates as benefits of utilizing a CBDC у фебруару.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/kenyan-energy-company-entices-bitcoin-miners-with-geothermal-power