Besides catching the ethereal aurora borealis in a sleepy artic town of Norilsk, one can be forgiven to not realize it is also home to one of the largest bitcoin mining facility in the world.
Boasting a low electricity tariff of approximately US$0.04, Norilsk has attracted BitCluster to setup a large bitcoin mining facility, like bees to honey. At least 150 Antminers S19 mining-focused machines have been setup since October 2020.
BitCluster intends to expand to 31 MW this year in anticipation of increased demand for its services.
(Containers offer a scalability option to meet surging demands)
Why Norilsk?
Running a mining operation consumes a lot of electricity which is used for cooling and powering the machines. If an operator can lower one half of the scale, it would dramatically increase profitability. With temperatures ranging from -10 to -50 degree Celsius, it is no wonder that this region offers an attractive unit economics in operating a bitcoin mining farm.
(A rack of Antminers)
With a population of just 180,000 in a small sleepy town, one would wonder where they are spending their mined bitcoins on. The quest for finding the cheapest source of electricity continues and who knows, perhaps, one day, we will be mining bitcoins on Mars.
Note: This article’s images are grabbed from www.bitcluster.ru.
