Iceland Cuts Electricity to New Bitcoin Miners

Iceland's national electricity utility, Landsvirkjun, has cut the power it will supply to some industries, including aluminum smelters and bitcoin miners.

A representative of the utility reported that the utility was forced to reduce energy distribution to bitcoin miners and various industrial facilities in the Southwest due to a series of problems, including problems at power stations, low water levels in reservoirs and External suppliers obtain energy.

The country has long attracted mining operations due to its abundance of geothermal energy, which can generate cheap and plentiful supplies of renewable energy. But according to Landsvirkjun, starting Dec. 7, for an unknown period of time, any new requests for electricity from mining operations will be denied.

Canada’s Hive Blockchain Technologies, Genesis Mining and Bitfury Holding are the three major bitcoin mining companies that have opened facilities in Iceland.

For nearly a decade, miners have been working hard to live up to the promise of environmentally friendly bitcoin mining in Iceland. In 2013, Cloud Hashing moved 100 mining machines to Iceland. In November 2017, the Austrian company HydroMiner GmbH raised around $2.8 million through an initial coin offering (ICO) to install mining machines directly at power plants in Iceland.

Less than 1% of the country's electricity is generated from non-renewable sources.

The country's aluminum smelting industry has been hit hardest by the lack of power distribution. Aluminum prices rose 1.1% on Dec. 7, reflecting a recent surge in demand and supply bottlenecks caused by the current tight power supply.

In 2021, the green blockchain initiative becomes popular around the world. Energy-intensive bitcoin mining was discussed by thought leaders at the COP26 conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Launched at the conference, GloCha Climate Empowerment Action United Citizens Organization (UCO) will use blockchain technology to advance climate change goals.

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