Elon Musk’s SpaceX Tesla has partnered with Block (previously Square) and Blockstream to power a solar-powered Bitcoin mining plant in Texas, CNBC reports.
According to Blockstream CEO Adam Back, the $12 million initiative is intended to demonstrate that Bitcoin mining is capable of supporting zero-emission energy infrastructure.
Additionally, his organization thinks that the facility will be able to boost the network by incorporating new energy sources.
Tesla‘s 3.8 megawatts (MW) solar photovoltaic energy plant and the company’s rechargeable battery storage technology, Megapack, will power the mining operation. Megapack has a capacity of 2 megawatt-hours (MWh).
The mining operation is scheduled to begin operations within a few months. The pilot crypto mining operation will have a maximum computational capacity of 30 petahash per second (PH/s).
As previously reported by U.Today, Blockstream and Block announced cooperation in early May to build a Bitcoin mining facility powered entirely by solar energy.
Tesla first purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in February, but the move drew criticism owing to Bitcoin’s high energy use.
Last March, the e-car market began accepting Bitcoin on its website but later discontinued the payment mechanism due to climate-related concerns. The U-turn prompted a firestorm of discussion about the long-term viability of Bitcoin mining.
Musk said, however, that Tesla would reinstate Bitcoin payments if the amount of renewable energy used in Bitcoin mining exceeded the 50% level. It currently seems as if the corporation is attempting to increase the long-term viability of the biggest cryptocurrency.
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