US company Nodal Power closed a seed round of funding worth $13 million for a project to convert methane released at landfills into renewable energy, part of which is used for cryptocurrency mining.
\n\n
Methane is a greenhouse gas produced by the decomposition of organic matter. It traps heat 25 times more effectively than carbon dioxide, and an excess is considered one of the drivers of global warming.
\n\n
With the new technology, Nodal Power will ‘convert escaping gas into electricity’ and generate additional power, reducing CO2 emissions.
\n\n
\n
“Bitcoin mining is a secondary tool we use when the economics of the network aren’t favourable. At the moment we mine cryptocurrency only in our data centres,” said co-founder Matthew Jones in an interview with Decrypt.
\n
\n\n
Nodal Power currently operates two power plants in the United States and plans to open a third in early 2024, for which the funding was allocated.
\n\n
The first and largest facility primarily exports renewable electricity to the local utility, while the second powers 500 mining rigs with a capacity of 40 PH/s, Jones said.
\n\n
The new data centre will be an exact copy of its predecessor in terms of capacity and operating methods.
\n\n
Co-founder of CH4 Capital and advocate for green energy Daniel Batten reminded of the significant climate risk posed by waste dumps. According to him, about 75% of such facilities cannot sell recovered energy to the wider grid and use it on-site.
\n\n
According to the KPMG report, the volume of flared methane in the United States and Canada could potentially power the entire Bitcoin blockchain.
\n\n
Earlier, Genesis Digital Assets opened a new ‘green’ data centre in Sweden. The 417 MW facility is located next to a hydroelectric power plant. It is expected that the facility will use clean energy from a local supplier.