KenGen, a geothermal energy company in Kenya, wants to offer Bitcoin mining facilities extra power. The company generates most of its energy from renewables and has acknowledged that several mining facilities have reached out to them to purchase energy.
Although KenGen did not reveal the location of these facilities, it is believed that the Bitcoin mining firms that reached out to them are from the US and Europe. More than 80% of the company’s power comes from renewable energy sources.
The geothermal development director of KenGen acknowledged that the company is fully equipped to meet the needs of mining facilities, and they are ready to deliver if called upon.
Bitcoin Mining and Energy Consumption
Currently, the United States accounts for 35% of the world’s Bitcoin mining facilities. As of last year, China was the leading nation in Bitcoin mining. China accounted for over 65% of the mining hash rate globally. However, Chinese authorities launched a crackdown on mining facilities in the nation, leading to a decline in the mining rate. Currently, China accounts for just 21% of the global hash rate of Bitcoin.
Kenya boasts a geothermal power output of 863 MegaWatts. Although this figure is massive, and the nation is the leading producer of geothermal energy in Africa, it still has the potential to produce up to 10,000 MegaWatts of power from geothermal energy.
Bitcoin mining consumes over 204 TW-hours of electricity every year, leading to 22 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions yearly. The power consumed during Bitcoin mining is equivalent to the amount of power consumed by Thailand. Similarly, the amount of energy consumed annually in Ethereum mining is as much as that consumed by the whole of the Netherlands. Although, Ethereum mining will be halted when the network switches from PoW to PoS.
The high energy consumed in crypto mining and the number of carbon emissions resulting from the process has been a great cause for concern. Hopefully, more firms like KenGen will step in to enable miners to utilize clean energy and reduce the carbon footprint in our ecosystem.
