Major Bitcoin mining firm Mara Holdings (formerly Marathon Digital) has reportedly bought a major wind farm in Texas to help charge its mining ambitions. The Florida-registered company is one of the biggest crypto mining facilities in the world and is looking to keep expanding aggressively despite tough mining conditions after the 2024 halving. The company filed this acquisition with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Mara’s Massive Foray into Wind Energy
The company announced this move earlier today but didn’t disclose the amount involved in purchasing the large wind farm. The Hansford county-based farm reportedly boasts a massive 240 Megawatt (MW) worth of interconnectivity and 114 MW wind power generation capacity. The company will likely use this power for mining purposes or in the booming carbon credits market.
The facility was previously owned by National Grid Plc and Washington State Investment Board. The move presents a nice PR opportunity for the Bitcoin community as it shows that energy-intensive crypto-mining operations are moving towards renewable energy sources.
In addition to this costly facility, Mara Holdings owns around 34,959 BTC ($3.3 billion), among the largest declared ownerships of Bitcoin in the world. However, it is a mining company, so its coffers change considerably with the overall climate.
Bitcoin’s Shift to Renewable Energy?
While 240 MW is a substantial amount of energy when it comes to household usage, it is minuscule in terms of the overall energy usage of the Bitcoin network. Operating at full capacity, the Texan farm purchased by Mara Holdings can generate about 7 gigawatt hours of energy in a year, while the total energy approximately consumed by the BTC network is reportedly anywhere between 120,000-160,000 gigawatt hours or 120-160 TWh.
However, it is still a step in the right direction, as BTC’s environmental impact is routinely blamed for the climate crisis. This is even though several studies have shown that cryptocurrency is responsible for less than 1% of the world’s Carbon emissions, and they, too, are decreasing with time.
Bitcoin is trading just above the $95k support level at press time. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization remains on course for a massive 2024-2025 bull market, and miners are expected to hold the crypto in place until their price targets are achieved.
