The small country of El Salvador is home to 30 volcanoes, 20 of which are potentially active. This “volcano energy” will not go to waste, being harnessed for an ambitious $1B Bitcoin mining project
El Salvador, the country which set a precedent by establishing Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, continues its ambitious crypto mining initiatives with “Volcano Energy” 241 megawatt (MW) renewable power generation park. The new venue will be situated in the Metapán region, combining solar and wind projects upon a base set of geothermal expansion.
Aiming to establish one of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining farms, El Salvador wants to become a major global industry player “while promoting energy competitiveness, diversification and geographic expansion for the Bitcoin network.”
The project involves multiple international stakeholders, who own 27% of the mining park. Besides, the government of El Salvador will actively participate in the planning and execution of the initiative. It also has a 23% stake in the project. The remaining 50% of revenue will be reinvested in expanding energy production capacity.
The total project funding is set at $1 billion, with a first investment of $250 million already provided by key Bitcoin industry leaders, developers and manufacturers of renewable energy technology, as well as Bitcoin mining experts. The large sum will be enabled by equity rather than debt, which is another benefit of the sustainable energy initiative.
The park will leverage exceptional solar and wind energy yields of El Shiste hamlet, within the municipality of Metapán, Santa Ana. Volcano Energy is forecast to have a capacity of 169MW of photovoltaic solar energy and 72MW of wind energy. Moreover, its initial computational power is expected to surpass 1.3 EH/s, which will be a significant milestone for both the country and the Bitcoin mining industry.
The establishment of the renewable power generation park is a huge leap towards achieving national ESG goals for El Salvador while also maintaining the country’s prominent position in the global crypto mining industry.
Earlier, the El Salvador government passed the bill to fund building ‘Bitcoin City’ – a metropolis project powered by geothermal energy from the nearby Conchagua volcano, as well as enabled the issuing of the country’s first round of ‘volcano bonds’ to pay down foreign debt.
Furthermore, the country removed all taxes related to tech innovation, aiming to promote segments “such as software programming, coding, apps and AI development; as well as computing and communications hardware manufacturing,” along with crypto.
