- The hydroelectric plant is selling power to local miners, but there is a potential market for foreign clients looking for cheap, clean power and a stable internet connection.
- The costs of mining Bitcoin are very attractive to local miners and foreign companies, but the government has preferred to go slowly, although it has not interfered in mining activities.
Hundreds of equipment used in Bitcoin mining are fed with the energy generated by a hydroelectric plant moved by a small river located in the middle of the forest with coffee and sugar cane plantations in the Central American country.
Because the government stopped buying electricity from the hydroelectric plant during the pandemic crisis, as there was a surplus of energy, its administrators had to rethink the business.
That was when the idea of selling hydroelectric power to Bitcoin miners operating in the country came up. Some 650 machines owned by 150 miners are now operating night and day. The equipment is housed in eight containers that the plant supplies with energy.
Opening of the first Digital Mining Center
Data Center CR inaugurated this first Digital Mining Center in the country, located at the Poás I Hydroelectric Plant (San Pedro de Poás), in April of last year. The hydroelectric plant is located right next to the Poás River, a small source of water located 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the capital, San José.
Costa Rica has been generating most of the energy it consumes for several years from green sources.
"We had to pause the activity for nine months, and exactly a year ago I heard about Bitcoin, blockchain and digital mining,"
explained Eduardo Kooper, the president of Data Center CR, owner of the plant and the farm of about 60 hectares.
"At first I was very skeptical, but we saw that this business consumes a lot of energy and we have a surplus,"
added the executive of the family business.
The hydroelectric plant has three plants with a generation capacity of three megawatts and a value of US $ 13.5 million. To adapt the plant for the digital mining business, the company invested US $ 500,000.
