The Northeast is the new Eldorado of cryptocurrencies thanks to the policies of partial reconversion of the old hydroelectric plants. The leader of the digital energy mini-revolution is the startup from Trentino Alps Blockchain, one of the most active realities in the Triveneto in the new "frontier" of the extraction of alternative currencies.
As is known, computer systems are used to mine cryptocurrencies that require impressive computing power. Where is it possible to find it at an affordable cost? For example in hydroelectric plants, plants that obviously find it productive to host extraction activities (mining) to increase the margins of their income statements.
«In the first year, 2018, we concentrated on research and development, identifying solutions to enter the market through specialist consultancy services, sale of computing power and rental of machinery», explain the two co-founders Francesco Buffa e Francesca Failoni. To date, they manage 18 plants in Northern Italy, located throughout the Alps, but they have already expanded to Tuscany and Liguria as well.
The operational project, called Alps Farm, was born in 2019 with a relatively simple logic: to maximize the yield of hydroelectric energy by bringing together the world of renewables with that of technology blockchain. Through the management of computing power production centers, exploiting the power of water, they offer the possibility of adding a business opportunity to the sector which is already very widespread around the world, especially in the United States.
The hydroelectric sites then turn into small ones energy hubs with multifaceted possibilities of use: this is the case, for example, of the San Gaetano plant in Valstagna, in the province of Vicenza, which for 70 years had been doing its classic job of producing energy for the private and industrial distribution network. The plant, owned by the Vicenza steel giant Afv Acciaierie Beltrame, currently allocates 80% of the energy produced for sale to the grid and the remaining 20% is used precisely to power the computer network that mines the cryptocurrencies.
Thanks to the currently active plants, Alps Blockchain has installed 2.100 miners who generate 300 petahash/h (with 9 megawatt/h) and expect to reach 2022 miners in 6.000. «In addition to improving the value of self-consumed energy, on average by over 120%, the Alps Farm project generates a positive impact on the territory and on the market, leading to the introduction of new demand for clean energy. Furthermore, mining places new demands on the labor market for engineers, turbine operators, qualified energy technicians», observe the two Trentino startuppers.
However, not all sites are suitable for cryptocurrency mining: to host a mining farm, the plant must have a production capacity of at least 1.500.000 MW/h per year and guarantee continuity in energy production, as well as the requirement not to be entitled to state incentives RES, which in these cases can limit the feasibility of the project.
Alps Blockchain's activity today is concentrated upstream, i.e. on the creation of the infrastructure that supports the blockchain and the consequent production of computing power. The machines they install are based on the SHA-256 algorithm, which is specific to certain blockchains. «Today we also mainly address energy producers and therefore a specific b2b segment. We are planning the development of a new b2c service dedicated to those interested in buying the computing power generated by the mining process, to make it even more accessible even to non-experts. Linked to this project is the goal of acquiring in the future a hydroelectric plant Property". The extraction activity is obviously not free of cost, it produces consequences that will need to be well pondered, either in environmental terms than the use of public resources.
