SAN PEDRO DE POAS, Costa Rica, Jan 11 (Reuters) - A small river amid coffee plantations, sugar cane fields and a forest provides power to a hydroelectric plant in Costa Rica that powers hundreds of computers connected to cryptocurrency. mining business
More than 650 machines from 150 customers operate non-stop from eight containers fed by the plant along the Poรกs River, 35 kilometers (22 miles) from San Josรฉ, the capital of a country that generates almost all its energy from green sources.
The plant was forced to reinvent itself after 30 years because the government stopped buying electricity during the pandemic due to the surplus of electricity supply in the Central American country, where the State has a monopoly on energy distribution.
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โWe had to pause the activity for nine months, and exactly a year ago I heard about Bitcoin, blockchain and digital mining,โ said Eduardo Kooper, president of the family business that owns the 60-hectare Data Center CR farm and plant.
"At first I was very skeptical, but we saw that this business consumes a lot of energy and we have a surplus."
The hydroelectric plant, with its three plants valued at $ 13.5 million and a capacity of three megawatts, invested $ 500,000 to enter the hosting of digital mining computers.
Eduardo Kopper, owner of Data Center CR, works in the data center of the Poรกs I hydroelectric plant that provides power to computers, in Alajuela, Costa Rica, January 8, 2022. Photo taken on January 8, 2022. REUTERS / Mayela Lรณpez
Kooper said that international cryptocurrency miners are looking for cheap, clean energy and a stable internet connection, which Costa Rica has in abundance. However, he said that the Costa Rican government should be more aggressive in trying to attract more crypto mining business, although he did not elaborate.
The government did not respond to a request for comment.
Costa Rica lacks a specific regulation for cryptocurrencies, unlike El Salvador, which became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021. read more
Costa Rica's central bank said it was providing space for technological innovation to allow a Fintech industry to take shape, and was constantly monitoring developments.
So far all Data Center CR clients are local, like Mauricio Rodrรญguez, a 31-year-old computer security engineer who entered digital mining to earn extra money from home in 2021 with equipment valued at $ 7,000.
"Installing it here is much more profitable than at home," at nearly half the cost, he calculated, after connecting his computer to the network at the river-fed plant.
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Reporting by Alvaro Murillo Written by Valentine Hilaire; Edited by David Gregorio
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