Amid High Energy Demand From Miners, Russia Mulls Building New Power Plants in Siberia – Mining Bitcoin News

Growing electricity consumption in the cryptomining sector may require the construction of new power generation facilities in Siberia, the Russian energy minister has admitted. Demand continues to grow in residential areas as well, after regional authorities abandoned a proposal to raise tariffs on Russians minting digital coins in their homes.

Russian authorities are thinking about new energy infrastructure, production capacity in crypto mining areas

Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov has noted that demand for electricity from cryptocurrency miners has increased in parts of Siberia where the industry has expanded. He noted that local media and crypto news channels are borrowing more production capacity to meet their needs.

Shulginov did not reveal specific plans, but made it clear that Russian authorities in these regions are considering further development of energy networks used by mining companies and the construction of new power plants. The networks of the Republic of Khakassia and the Irkutsk region are currently the most heavily loaded, Bits.media reports.

– The position of the Ministry of Energy has always been based on the need to create working conditions for mining, the official emphasized. He also stated that the population’s electricity consumption has also increased, occasionally causing damage to distribution networks.

“In terms of industrial mining, it is also growing, mainly in areas where the tariff is low. A significant increase in consumption can be seen in these areas, which we have to take into account,” Shulginov commented in an interview with the Russia-24 television channel and elaborated:

It probably won’t go without building a generation [capacities] In the southeastern part of the Unified Energy System of Siberia.

Energy-rich Irkutsk maintains low electricity prices for crypto miners

Cryptomining has expanded in Russia, where there are plenty of cheap energy resources and a cool climate, both as a profitable business and as an additional income for many ordinary Russians working in basements and garages. According to a study published in October, bitcoin mining revenues in Russia grew 18-fold in the four years before the market and sanctions hit it this year.

Homegrown mining has been blamed for disruptions and blackouts in places like Irkutsk, dubbed the mining capital of Russia and offering some of the lowest electricity prices in the country. The Ministry of Energy supported a proposal to introduce differentiated tariffs, which will raise energy costs for amateur miners to limit consumption, but was ultimately rejected by local authorities, except for the Kemerovo region.

Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Snikkars said in early December that the sector’s share of Russia’s total electricity consumption could double by 2022. His department and Russia’s central bank supported a law to regulate cryptocurrency mining, but lawmakers delayed it. passage of the 2023 bill.

Do you think the Russian government will take steps to secure energy supply for cryptocurrency miners? Let us know in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from Eastern Europe who likes the Hitchens quote: “Being a writer is who I am, not what I do.” In addition to encryption, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.