DMG starts construction of 85MW crypto mining facility in Canada

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

DMG Blockchain Solutions, a cryptocurrency mining company out of Canada, has announced that it has begun installing a large substation for its mining operations. The company has received support from both energy providers and the local government in Vancouver, and expects the substation to be connected to the power grid and ready to mine by September.

The company said in a press release that, at the onset, it will have 60 megawatts (MW) available to power its mining operations. However, the substation is expected to have a total capacity of 85MW. It will be DMG’s flagship mining facility in Canada and will increase the company’s ability to offer mining-as-a-service (MaaS) functionality.

With the new facility, DMG will be able to host 20 times more mining operations than it currently does. The company’s chief operating office, Sheldon Bennett, explained, “Building and managing a cryptomining operation at an industrial scale requires a world-class supply chain as well as direct access to local government and electricity providers. Our management team at DMG is unique in that we have the experience, the relationships, and the capital backing to do this successfully.”

The various facilities operated by the company in Canada allow it to serve its own mining operations, as well as those of several MaaS clients. According to DMG, this allows the company to scale more quickly by “balancing the capital requirements and investor returns of the traditional mining model with the low capital needs and steady revenue generation of the MaaS model.”

Canada has seen a significant migration of cryptocurrency miners over the past six months, many of whom were drawn to the country due to its low energy consumption rates and an abundance of electricity. While Vancouver has received a fair amount of attention, Quebec has been the prime target for the majority of the mining operations. Hydro-Quebec, which provides power to all of Quebec, has a reported surplus of energy of around 100 terawatt-hours across 10 years and has extremely low costs compared with most of North America.

The migration hasn’t been without concerns, however. Hydro-Quebec was forced to place a moratorium on new cryptocurrency mining operations earlier this year over the influx of new operations. That moratorium was lifted in June, and energy regulators are now considering a separate energy rate—higher than the residential rate—that would be charged to miners.