Iceland rejects the power requests from new Bitcoin miners

Landsvirkjun, the renowned National Iceland electrical firm, has decided to cut the amount of power it will provide for several industries, including Bitcoin mining and aluminum smelting.

After a series of challenges, including a failure at a power plant, low hydro-reservoir levels, and receiving energy from an external provider, the island’s power utility has been compelled to limit energy supplies to southwestern Bitcoin miners and various industrial enterprises.

The country’s availability of geothermal energy, which is harnessed to generate a plentiful and cheap supply of renewable energy, has drawn considerable attraction from mining companies. According to Landsvirkjun, any new requests for power from mining operations would be rejected from December 7 for an indefinite amount of time.

Before this, Kazakhstan, who once said that the mining activities will not be taxed, has also said that the energy consumption is pretty huge, and the country is not benefiting from Bitcoin mining.

Iceland is on the way to becoming environmentally-friendly

Iceland has primarily three Bitcoin mining companies, namely Canada’s Hive Blockchain technologies, Brian Brooks’ Bitfury Holding, and Genesis Mining.

Miners have tried to realize the need for environmentally friendly Bitcoin mining in Iceland. Bitcoin mining company Cloud Hashing moved 100 miners to the country in 2013, and in 2017, HydroMiner GmbH, an Australian company, raised around $2.8 million through its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) for installation of mining rigs directly at Icelandic power plants.

Non-renewable sources account for less than 1% of total electricity generation in the country.

The distribution failure has harmed the country’s aluminum smelting industry the most. Aluminum prices increased 1.1% on December 7 to reflect a supply constraint caused by a recent jump in demand and the current power shortage.

Green blockchain initiatives have become popular around the world in 2021. The energy-intensive Bitcoin mining was discussed by thought leaders at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland.