Iran grants Bitcoin miners exclusive access to electricity at three power plants

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Iran has granted bitcoin miners exclusive access to electricity generated by three power plants for their mining activities, according to Thermal Power Plant Holding Company (TPPH).

Mohsen Tarztalab, managing director of TPPH, told a local news agency on Monday that “the necessary equipment has been installed in three power plants in Ramin, Neka and Shahid Montazeri”.

The government company, responsible for the development and management of thermal power plants, will now proceed to issue tenders for the three projects, the “documents of which will be uploaded to the SetadIran.ir website in the near future,” Tarztalab said. .

It is important to note that crypto miners will only receive excess electricity from the expansion turbines that need to be built at the target power plants for this specific purpose. Tarztalab explained this because turbines “do not consume liquid fuels like diesel, only natural gas,” which burns cleaner than coal.

“These turbines are not connected to the national grid and the electricity generated by them is used only by the plant itself,” he said.

However, it is unclear how much electricity will be produced or dedicated to crypto mining by the three facilities. As reported by news.Bitcoin.com in the past, in July Iran issued permits to 14 crypto mining farms, each with a capacity of 300 megawatts. But it also recently shut down 1,100 illegal bitcoin miners. About 1,000 miners had already been cleared in January.

Until now, no power plant, or part of it, could exclusively mine digital assets, even though the country’s Ministry of Energy in July gave the green light to mine power plants. One of the main reasons for Iran’s continued open-mindedness to virtual resources is the potential the industry offers to boost declining government revenues. Tarztalab, the head of the TPPH, detailed:

Unfortunately, constant price increases and the obligation to provide electricity at stable prices to subscribers have caused a large gap between income and expenditure in the country’s electricity industry, and we need new sources of income to bridge this gap.

Bitcoin mining is cheap in Iran, something that has attracted scores of miners, both legitimate and shady, to the nation’s shores. According to official data, mines in Iran pay only 4,800 rials ($ 0.01) per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity, but the tariffs increase fourfold to 19,300 rials ($ 0.05) during the peak summer season. from June to September.

What do you think of Iran allocating three power plants for the exclusive mining of bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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