YPF oil company, one of the largest in the world, announced that it will start mining Bitcoin. The company also stated that it will use electricity generated with waste or vent gas from the Vaca Muerta well in Argentina.
According to the company, this pilot project provides 1 Mw of electricity for a Bitcoin mining plant. In this way the company said it plans to expand the operation, by the end of the year, with a second 8 MW generator will be commissioned.
The waste gas used arises from the development of a new hydrocarbon project at Vaca Muerta. So in this first phase of construction, the oil is associated with natural gas that cannot be re-routed through a pipeline, hence the need to harness this gas.
When the well is complete and producing oil and gas, the mining equipment will be moved to a new development facility.
Bitcoin Mining
“This first pilot, which is already in operation. It operates with 1 MW of generation. A second project is being developed at the same time, to go into operation before the end of the year. This one of about 8 MW, in the Bajo del Toro area, which also belongs to YPF,” said YPF CEO Martín Mandarano
The idea of harnessing the waste from other energy processes to generate electricity is something that is considered a major differentiator of Bitcoin mining. Thus, a recently released study explains that the waste gas is otherwise wasted and generates a highly polluting process called flaring.
Cryptocurrency mining farms, by easily adapting to the energy availability of each area, offer the possibility of putting this wasted resource to use.
Therefore, should energy become scarce and there is no more waste to convert at a given location, one would simply shut down the equipment or move it elsewhere,” says Arcane Research.