Abilene and Taylor County plan to build a $2.4B BTC mining facility

The Texan city of Abilenehas joined hands with Lancium, a Houston-based infrastructure firm, to build a data center that supports Bitcoin (BTC/USD) mining. A report unveiled this news earlier today, noting that this project is worth $2.4 billion (£1.80 billion). Reportedly, this data center will run on renewable energy.

According to the report, the facility will also host other energy-intensive applications apart from BTC mining. The project will start at 200 megawatts of power. However, it has an expansion capacity of up to 1 gigawatt.

Commenting on this bullish initiative, Lancium co-founder and CEO Michael McNamara said,

He added that Lancium chose Abilene for its second Clean Campus initiative because of the city’s ideal location. On top of this, McNamara said Abilene has easy access to wind and solar energy. According to him, the city also has a quality workforce and boasts the opportunity to grow in the future.

Construction commences in Q1 2022

Per the publication, the facility will sit on an 800 acre piece of land in Abilene and Taylor County. Its construction is set to commence in the first quarter of 2022.

Reportedly, the project is expected to bring in approximately $993.4 million (£745.99 million to the economies of Abilene and Taylor County.  

According to Jack Rich, the board chair of the Development Corporation of Abilene,

This news comes as the crypto mining business continues booming in the US after China banned crypto mining earlier this year, citing ESG concerns. Unlike in China where mining farms relied on coal for power, the crypto mining industry in the US is striving to achieve carbon neutrality.

In an interview on December 21, Peter Wall, the CEO of leading mining firm Argo, said mining firms are keen on helping the industry reduce its vast carbon footprint. He pointed out that Argo is looking to launch a new facility in West Texas. Wall said the mining farm would rely on renewable energy, including wind and solar.