Bitfarms to expand Bitcoin mining capacity in Argentina to 100 MW

Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms has received the permits to increase the power draw of its Rio Cuarto mining facility in Argentina to 100 MW.

⚡ Bitfarms Receives Permit To Power Up To 100 MW In Argentina ??

This is expected to initially double the active capacity to 18 MW and increase the Company’s operational hashrate to 5 EH/s.

? Press Release: https://t.co/jGORknRcpX

? $BITF $BTC #BitcoinMining #Blockchain pic.twitter.com/A4CArwzaRt

— Bitfarms (@Bitfarms_io) April 24, 2023

The company began construction of the facility in Argentina in October 2021. At that time Bitfarms operated five data centres in Canada.

It is planned that in the initial phase the Rio Cuarto facility will ramp up active capacity to 18 MW, nearly doubling the current level. In April the company rolled out 2,100 new ASIC miners from Bitmain and MicroBT at the data centre, and tested connection to a substation capable of delivering 120 MW.

According to Bitfarms CEO Jeff Morfi, the electricity price under contract in Argentina is below $0.03 per kWh. This is the lowest tariff in the company’s portfolio, he noted.

Awaiting approval, the company purchased 6,200 miners for deployment in Rio Cuarto. After installing the full batch in the coming months, the facility’s hashrate will reach 1.1 EH/s, and Bitfarms’ total will reach 5.7 EH/s, noted mining director Ben Ganio.

He noted that the building erected for the first phase on the site can support 50 MW. The equipment acquired will collectively allow around 40 MW to be used, and the company is working on additional orders for devices.

The permit granted to Bitfarms allows the connection of the second-phase building once constructed. In total under the contract the company can access up to 210 MW.

According to the press release, the firm operates ten data centres in four countries — Canada, the United States, Paraguay and Argentina.

In November 2021 Bitfarms acquired for $26 million a 24 MW data centre in Washington state.

The operator of the facility, a subsidiary Backbone Mining Solutions, in February 2022 signed a loan agreement with BlockFi for $32 million secured by equipment.

In January 2023 Bitfarms announced that is seeking more favorable terms for paying off the remaining loan — at the time it stood at $20 million plus interest, while the collateral devices were valued at about $5 million.

The parties reached an agreement in February — the mining company repaid the loan, paying BlockFi $7.75 million.

In April, analysts noted that the Bitcoin rally since the start of the year contributed to rising prices for ASIC miners. According to Bitfarms CFO Jeff Lucas, the latest batch of devices with an efficiency of ~30 J/TH cost the company $14.1 per TH. He called the deal ‘very advantageous’.

According to Hashrate Index, at the time of writing the average price of such installations stood at about $16.5/TH.

Bitfarms reported mining 424 BTC in March. In 2022 the company abandoned the strategy of holding reserves in cryptocurrency and continued selling a portion of the mined coins.