As the country combats the massive energy shortage, Iceland’s largest power company Landsvirkjun has decided to turn down any new Bitcoin miners. However, Bitcoin is not the only one facing this rejection.
The country’s data centers, aluminum smelters and fish meal factories have also suffered from the cut-off energy supply.
Iceland is Home to Bitcoin Miners
Seeing as the Nordic isles have promised cheap green energy, it became attractive to all mining hubs across the globe.
Hong Kong-listed Genesis mining declares that their largest Ethereum miners operate from their Reykjavik facility. The Canadian Hive Blockchain also mines Zcash, Ethereum and Ethereum Classic from their Iceland data centers.
Many other crypto mining facilities operate in the Nordic islands. They offer miners the most attractive solution with cheap power and a mild climate.
Bitcoin Miners are Not the Only Ones to Blame
Even though this is sudden, the crypto miners should have been prepared. Iceland’s power industry has been warning about the imminent power shortage since the start of this year.
In April, the chief executive at Landsvirkjun, Hordur Arnarson, stated that there is a possibility that “very little excess energy” would be present in 2021 and 2022 due to the climate issues they have been facing.
Although Bitcoin miners have been growing in Iceland, they are still not the biggest power drainers. The many aluminum smelters might be the issue.
However, they usually work with a long-term contract with third-party providers. When the power issue occurred, the smelters opted for short-term contracts with Landsvirkjun. This permitted the power supplier to shorten the supply.
According to Landsvirkjun, aluminum smelters still require more energy which can lead this industry to face the brunt of the power shortage.
