The oldest hydropower plant in the United States, Mechanicville, starts mining Bitcoin as this they say pays them three times as much as providing electricity.
After starting Bitcoin mining, the historic Mechanicville hydro plant, which was erected in 1897, became a legendary landmark in the history of sustainable energy.
Due to outdated equipment, the hydro plant has been dormant for some time. The facility is officially ready to operate after a significant investment of time, money, and other resources.
To offset its losses and return to the economy with the sustainable crypto generation, the Mechanicville hydro plant has decided to partially power bitcoin mining.
“We can make more money with bitcoin than selling the electricity to National Grid,”, Jim Besha Sr., CEO of Mechanicville hydroelectric station, told Times-Union.
When selling energy to National Grid, Albany Engineering Corp., the parent company of the Mechanicville hydro plant, which is also owned by Besha, earned a total of 3 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Mining the decentralized bitcoin, on the other hand, pays them three times as much.
Due to the volatile nature of the decentralized currency, Besha has stated that the hydropower plant cannot guarantee allegiance to the crypto community.
Besha sells 1/1000 bitcoins per week to keep his accounts liquid. He wanted to offer sustainable energy to groups that would use it as energy rather than manufacturing something else with it. But, for the time being, Besha is satisfied with his arrangement with bitcoin miners.
“It’s the best (type of bitcoin mining) because we’re using renewable energy…We’re just doing it on the side, experimenting with it. We’re buying used servers.”, Besha told Times-Union.
Since the late 1800s, National Grid and Mechanicville had collaborated. National Grid, on the other hand, ordered that the hydro plant be upgraded in 1986 in order to improve its performance.
The two firms entered into an agreement, and Besha worked on obtaining an independent license to operate the plant, which would allow it to continue generating renewable energy and selling it to the national grid at a lower price than the current market price.
However, after successfully obtaining the license, Besha was duped by National Grid, which abruptly terminated the contract lines.
Mechanicville filed a lawsuit against National Grid and paid for the 10-year settlement process. Despite this, Besha has the plant listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which will help it stay afloat financially during the case.
