Russian Energy Ministry Wants to Cut Crypto Miners’ Power During Energy Shortages

The Russian Energy Ministry wants the power to disconnect crypto miners from energy grids, as Bitcoin miners continue to ramp up capacity.

The news comes after claims that Russian players mined some $3.5 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) last year.

Russian Energy Ministry: Miners Should Relocate to Other Parts of the Country

Vedomosti quoted Yevgeny Grabchak, Russia’s Deputy Minister of Energy, as stating that power providers should have the power to “disconnect” miners “from the power supply” at “any time.”

However, Grabchak reasserted assertions made by the Russian Energy Ministry earlier this year. Officials claimed last month that power firms may soon provide miners with surplus power.

“Miners are a new category of consumers. We are discussing them quite actively now. We don’t always have electricity consumption peaks. There is often free capacity on grids, when there are no heavy loads on networks.”

Yevgeny Grabchak, Russia’s Deputy Energy Minister

The Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev said, at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin this month, that crypto miners “should be prepared to move to parts of the country where there is no energy capacity shortage.”

Automatic Shut-offs?

Grabchak, meanwhile, said that the industry would be allowed to choose if it wanted to self-limit its power usage or use “automatic” IT solutions. He explained:

“When there is no capacity deficit – as is the case for most of the year – we may give excess capacity to some consumers. But this can only be done if they limit their consumption. Alternatively, they can install automatic solutions that would disconnect them from grids.”

Earlier this year, President Vladimir Putin effectively gave his blessing to the industrial crypto mining sector. Crypto was mining was legalized shortly after.

However, Putin also ordered his government to find ways to ensure miners do not cause power grid chaos. This has previously proved the case in nearby Abkhazia and Kazakhstan.

“Uncontrolled growth in electricity consumption for cryptocurrency mining may lead to a power shortage in certain regions. This has already been observed in the Irkutsk Oblast, Buryatia, and the Transbaikal Territory.”

Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Irkutsk, Buryatia, and Transbaikal are all traditional Bitcoin mining hotspots. Irkutsk in particular has struggled with power-related issues, sparking a regional crackdown on illegal miners.

Experts think that around a third of Russian crypto miners operate in or around Irkutsk. using an average of 1,000 MW.

They think that home-based miners consume around 130 MW of this amount.

Miners on the Move?

However, it appears that many miners are now looking to move away from Southern Russia and Siberia with their latest projects.

Newsko reported that developers in Perm, in the mid-Urals, have completed work on a purpose-built 440sqm mining “farm” on a 1.4-hectare plot.

The facility has a capacity of 3 MW, and is fitted with cooling rooms, gas boilers, and two main “hangars.”

The building, developed by a private individual, was constructed on a former “fur farm for breeding chinchillas,” the outlet noted.

And last month, the oil giant Gazprom launched a crypto mining-focused subsidiary. Media outlets claim this subsidiary is currently building a 500-rig mining farm in Veliky Novgorod – another city in European Russia.

Elsewhere, the regional governor of Komi Vladimir Uyba last month announced plans to build 15 new crypto mining “data centers” in Russia’s northeast.

Komi authorities will work with private-sector crypto miners and contractors on the project.

Uyba announced that the first two of these centers will be built in the settlements of Mikun and Sindor.

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