One of the largest cryptocurrency mining farms in Russia will be established in the Krasnoyarsk region, in the heart of Siberia, Daniel Zakomolkin, director general of the mining company BitBaza, told TASS news agency last week.
Zakomolkin said that the region was chosen “from the perspective of energy and cost reduction”. Infrastructure investments are estimated at roughly 3 billion rubles (about $48 million).
“There will be a mining farm, one of the largest in Russia. Ultimately, it is planned to create a product that will be more liquid than mining, which makes the project strategic. Krasnoyarsk is a region with an electrical power surplus. The industrial park “Divny” has three busbars connecting to a single power system at its disposal,” Zakonolkin said.
He noted that construction of the crypto farm’s blocks of processors inside the industrial park has been underway for over than a month. Initially, the mining farm will draw 10MW of power, after which consumption will be increased to 120MW, according to Zakomolkin.
The project plans to attract specialists among graduates from the Siberian State University. The heat generated in the mining process will be converted into thermal power and used for residential heating.
Russia’s cryptocurrency mining industry seems to be taking root in Siberia. According to Bitcoinist, investors are choosing the region not only for its low electricity costs but with consideration of “energy security” as it’s located in a remote part of Russia that’s about 1,000 kilometers north of the Mongolian border.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining is a very energy-intensive process, which also produces a lot of excess heat energy. Therefore, most mining operations prefer cold climates, which naturally replaces the need to expend capital on additional cooling equipment.
