Key facts:
There is talk of 300 ASICs at the moment, but the goal is up to 4,000 miners.
They estimate that the plant will generate at least 100 jobs.
Update 02/17/22: This article was updated with the statements and comments of Francisco Irigoite, CEO and founder of the Capsule Corporation, in charge of carrying out the project of a solar-powered Bitcoin mining farm.
Bitcoin (BTC) mining with renewable energy would be settling in Latin America. A project that plans to use solar energy to process transactions on the network is underway in Argentina, more precisely in the Province of Chaco.
According to informed by Jorge Capitanich, governor of that province, it is about the project of the Capsule Corporation, a holding company made up of financial technology companies thatThey have Bitcoin as a common denominator.
It is a group formed and directed by Francisco Matías Irigoite, who is the founder and CEO of the company, Francisco Gómez Salaverri, co-founder and CTO, Juan Ignacio Tenerani, who is the CFO and Leandro Nicolás Bosch, the COO.
A project focused on generating value
To delve into details, CriptoNoticias contacted Francisco Irigoite, CEO of the Capsule Corporation. He pointed out that, initially, the company’s new project will seek profitability, care for the environment and promote industrial development in Argentina.
“As a main objective, a strategic plan for photovoltaic production nodes is being developed that aims to expand over the national territory, deployed in the first instance in Resistencia Chaco,” Irigoite commented.
The entrepreneur explained that the development of the project was conceived and designed with the vision of building a Bitcoin mining farm, supported by renewable energy and mostly photovoltaic, which will be called Capsule Mining.
According to the project, they intend to design spaces where Bitcoin miners will be immersed in mineral oil, a method that counteracts the heat generated by these machines and which has been discussed by CriptoNoticias. They say the residue from the oil will be reused to generate biodiesel, intended to supply additional power to the mining farm.
In the future, Corporación Cápsula wants to reach the necessary hash power to be able to generate an Argentine mining pool, with the idea of decentralizing the points of Asia, North America and others, where the well-known large pools are present.
solar powered
The company bets on mining Bitcoin using solar energy, which they will capture through panels. According to the businessman, they are waiting for the arrival of 7,000 of these, imported from China, and which add up to a total of 4.2 megawatts of electricity.
For him, the profitability of solar-powered Bitcoin mining is “undeniable.” Although he acknowledges that it requires a large initial investment, “it will undoubtedly be private capital destined to boost local industry.”
“Is it profitable to be able to produce energy for approximately 28 years (useful life of our energy production line), adding the reduction in the emission of the carbon footprint while producing and securing the main value chain (Bitcoin)? For us, definitely yes.”
Francisco Irigoite, CEO of the Capsule Corporation.
The CTO of Corporación Cápsula and technology developer Francisco Gómez Salaverri, he claimed that the project to generate bitcoins using solar energy will initially include with 300 application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners, by mid-July 2022.
As estimated, the goal (scheduled for July 2023) is to bring the number of machines to 4,000, which will be part of the mining farm that will be sustained by renewable energy.
Irigoite made it clear to us that the ASICs come from various companies. More precisely, They will work with Bitmain’s Antminers, Canaan’s Avalons and MicroBT’s Whatsminers.
Renewable energy drives Bitcoin mining
The use of renewable energy to mine Bitcoin has become popular in Latin America, as part of the search for a solution to the effects of mining, the process of maintaining the exchange network and its secure registration, from the use of fossil fuels.
An example is Bitcoin mining with hydroelectric power, something that has been seen in Venezuela, where the energy system is supplied 100% by the electricity produced by the El Guri dam, in the south of the Caribbean country. This site, according to Venezuelan miners, has electrical surpluses that could well be used to start mining bitcoins.
The same has happened in Costa Rica, where a private hydroelectric plant has given space to Bitcoin mining, as reported in CriptoNoticias, using energy that does not pollute the environment. Paraguay is also another country where the activity is carried out using renewable energy.
In short, the use of clean and carbon-free energy is becoming more common, which helps to discard the narrative of the supposed environmental impact of bitcoin production, which can be easily compared to other activities. whose impact on the environment is more than remarkable.