Congressman Martín Berhongaray asks if Argentina would support Bitfarms’ energy consumption. Bitfarms would save at least 45% on bitcoin mining costs in Argentina compared to Canada.
Bitfarms, a Canadian company that focuses on cryptocurrency mining, will build a new mining farm in Argentina, and the deputies demand explanations about their energy consumption. The plant will be in La Pampa, something that worries various political representatives in the region.
Martín Berhongaray, the national deputy leading the Radical Civic Union party, asked the government for more information about cryptocurrency mining operations in Argentina. Through a draft resolution, the entity asks the Ministries of Science, Technology, and Innovation for details about the electricity supply that Bitfarms would require.
At the very beginning of the month, Bitfarms revealed that it considers working in La Pampa with up to 210 megawatts (MW) of energy. However, the deputy highlighted that, in the Los Nihuiles hydroelectric complex, the installed capacity counts 224 MW, a figure higher than the one previously declared.
This hydroelectric plant appears to be based in the center of the country in the province of La Pampa, in the same place where the future Portezuelo del Viento power plant carries out its operations.
In this other plant, the top 210 MW, which is the maximum energy used in a plant, would be respected. According to the deputy, this figure would help deploy at least 55,000 new-generation miners to get at least 12,000 bitcoins.
The mining of that amount of bitcoin runs in parallel with approximately USD 740 million. The radical deputy states that the first incentive to settle in the country is, obviously, economic.
Berhongaray Asks if Argentina will Support Bitfarms Energy and if it will Get a Subsidy
Among the questions that the officer asks the government, two stand out. The first one is to see if the country’s electrical system can support this project. And, in the second instance, the congressman asks if the project would receive a subsidy from public funds and, if so, what is the reason and the source of financing.
The contract as an Argentine private energy provider that Bitfarms acquired has an initial term of 8 years. The agreement got signed at the beginning of October, mainly because of the favorable weather throughout the country. This situation brings many benefits to the cooling of bitcoin mining.
Bitfarms, one of the mining companies on the list, highlighted that it hired the company Proyectos y Obras Americanas S.A. (PROA), which has committed to bringing the required engineering, procurement, and construction services for the Argentine facility.
As they highlight, the organization has focused on electrical infrastructure and civil construction for public services for almost six decades.
Bitfarms is Present Latin America
Bitfarms is already present in Latin America, more precisely in Paraguay, where they will build a new mining farm with more than 3,000 ASIC equipment to process Bitcoin transactions.
This deal took place after the mining company reached an agreement with electricity providers in Paraguay. It is a 5-year agreement that will allow Bitfarms access to 10 MW of hydroelectric energy for USD 0.036 per kilowatt per hour (kWh).
By: Jenson Nuñez
