Costa Rica’s hydropower plant takes new life with crypto mining

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SAN PEDRO DE POAS, Costa Rica: A small river amidst coffee plantations, sugarcane fields and a forest provides power to a hydroelectric power station in Costa Rica that powers hundreds of computers connected to cryptocurrency mining activity.

More than 650 machines from 150 customers operate continuously from eight containers fed by the factory located next to the Poas River, 35 kilometers (22 miles) from San José, the capital of a country that generates almost all of its energy from green sources.

The factory was forced to reinvent itself after 30 years because the government stopped buying electricity during the pandemic due to excess power supply in the Central American country, where the state has the monopoly of energy distribution.

“We had to go out of business for nine months, and exactly one year ago I heard about Bitcoin, blockchain and digital mining,” said Eduardo Kooper, president of the company. family owner of the 60 hectare Data Center CR farm and factory.

“I was very skeptical at the start, but we have seen that this profession consumes a lot of energy and that we have a surplus.”

The hydropower company, with its three plants valued at US $ 13.5 million and a capacity of three megawatts, has invested US $ 500,000 to get started in hosting digital mining computers.

Kooper said international cryptocurrency miners are looking for clean, cheap energy and a stable internet connection, which Costa Rica has a lot. However, he said the government of Costa Rica should be more aggressive in trying to attract more crypto mining companies, although he gave no details.

The government did not respond to a request for comment.

Costa Rica lacks specific regulations for cryptocurrencies, unlike El Salvador, which became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021.

Costa Rica’s central bank has said it provides space for technological innovation to enable a fintech industry to take shape and is constantly monitoring developments.

So far, all of Data Center CR’s customers are local, such as Mauricio Rodriguez, a 31-year-old computer security engineer who entered digital mining to earn extra money from home in 2021 with equipment. valued at US $ 7,000.

“Installing it there is much more profitable than at home”, for almost half the cost, he calculated, after having connected his computer to the network of the river power station.

(Reporting by Alvaro Murillo; Writing by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by David Gregorio)

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