5000 MW to Spare – CEO of Hydro-QuéBec Wants to Attract Cryptocurrency Miners

Just recently in an interview with Québec’s local publication, Le Journal, the CEO of the public utility company Hydro-Québec wants to attract cryptocurrency miners to the region to help bolster economic prosperity.

Also Read: Chinese Bitcoin Miners Explore Relocating Abroad Amid Fears of Crackdown

Hydro-Québec Needs a Solution to Avoid Energy Tariffs

Hydro-Québec is a large state-owned enterprise headquartered in Montreal that helps manage and supply electricity for Québec and other cities. The company isn’t doing so well the CEO Éric Martel reveals, and if things don’t change Québecers will face an “explosion” of electricity tariffs. Martel believes his company has the resources to stop the taxes as the firm’s 36,912 megawatts stemming from 63 hydroelectric power stations may be attractive to large data centers.

Bitcoin Miners Can Purchase Over 5000MW of Excess Power from Québec

Martel reveals Hydro-Québec will try to get energy-consuming businesses like giant website operations and server companies to utilize Québec’s resources. Hydro-Québec already supplies 450 MWh to various server centers. Martel is also looking to attract bitcoin miners to the region as Hydro-Québec hopes to distribute 6 TWh to those in need of an excess supply of cheaper energy. The CEO estimates cryptocurrency miners could use 5000MW of that energy.

When chatting with the Le Journal, Martel explains that he believes cryptocurrency miners and data stations appreciate the cold winters in Québec stating;

I tell them in the winter, you just have to open the garage door and windows to cool things down.

Chinese Miners Look to Canada

Hydroelectric power stations are becoming popular within the digital currency mining space as this type of energy producing technology is used by miners in various countries. However, the low-cost power in Winnipeg, Québec, and Canada, in general, is starting to attract bitcoin miners. Just recently one of the largest Chinese mining pools BTC.top announced it was building a mining farm in the country.

“We chose Canada because of the relatively cheap electricity cost and the stability of the country and policies,” the BTC.top founder, Jiang Zhuoer explains in a recent interview.

This past November news.Bitcoin.com reported on a bitcoin entrepreneur, Mr. Bertrand, telling the local media that Canada was attracting cryptocurrency miners because of the abundance of hydropower in the province. Mr. Bertrand also uses the region to mine bitcoin as he owns 50 ASICs in a warehouse that he estimates far less expensive than the U.S. and other areas.

Further, Hydro-Québec’s vice president, Eric Filion, has revealed on the broadcast Radio Canada that bitcoin miners from Asia have already been in touch with them. “These are really big players who contact us,” Filion notes on the radio show. It seems that’s just what the company wants to help cure its economic situation, offering bitcoin miners cheap hydropower before Québec residents see higher energy taxes.

What do you think about the CEO of Hydro-Québec looking for cryptocurrency miners to inhabit the region? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Images via Pixabay, the International Hydropower Association, and the Hydro-Québec logo.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.