Australia reopens coal-fired power station for ‘blockchain center’

An Australian company has agreed with an energy company in the country to connect a ‘blockchain center’ directly to a coal-fired power station for cheap electricity. For this, the closed coal-fired power station must be put back into operation.

The agreement is between IOT Group and Hunter Energy, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. The latter wants to restart the coal-fired power plant in the first quarter of next year, after it closed its doors in 2014. It is a 150 megawatt coal-fired power station. The blockchain center is expected to require about 10 to 20 megawatts.

By connecting the center directly to the plant, it can purchase electricity at wholesale prices and therefore pay about twenty percent less than what the standard rates would be. IOT Group hopes with its center to attract mining companies that want to set up data centers. Until now, Australia has largely ignored them, because of the high electricity prices in the country.