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Mexican billionaire eyes bitcoin mining with geothermal energy

Mexican billionaire eyes bitcoin mining with geothermal energy Domo de San Pedro geothermal project, Mexico (source: Grupo Dragon)
Alexander Richter 16 Feb 2022

Utilising power generated by the geothermal power plant of Domo San Pedro in Mexico, billionaire Ricardo Salinas plans to mine Bitcoins in Mexico.

As reported locally, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the third richest man in Mexico, is eyeing the mining of Bitcoin from a geothermal power plant owned by one of his companies, so LiveCoins.com.

Pliego is already a well-known figure in the cryptocurrency world and using the geothermal power plant of Domo San Pedro by his company Grupo Dragon (part of Grupo Salinas). The plant has an installed geothermal power generation capacity of 25 MW.

With this, he follows the news of El Salvador which became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender, is already using geothermal energy for Bitcoin mining and has large plans as we reported.

Utilising renewable energy for Bitcoin mining clearly has become en vogue given the huge energy demand and impact it has on energy consumption and related carbon emissions.  As a vivid supporter of Bitcoins, Ricardo Salinas’ Grupo Elektra stores already accept Bitcoin as legal tender.

However, his connection with Bitcoin does not end there, after all, the billionaire has his eye on the mining sector. This idea was given by a Twitter user who recalled that Salinas owns Grupo Dragon, one of the five geothermal energy operators in Mexico.

Continuing the conversation on Twitter, Salinas gave more information, stating that the plant has 10 MWh generated continuously and is fully renewable.

Using this information, one user claimed that he could use such energy to power between 6,000 and 8,000 Bitcoin mining rigs, called ASICs, as each consumes between 1,000 and 1,5000 Wh (1-1.5 kWh).

However, if you build such a mining farm, the one who will benefit the most is Bitcoin itself. First by greater decentralization, followed by more ecological mining, a point that still holds back the adoption of companies like Tesla and Uber.

Location of Domo San Pedro geothermal plant, Mexico (ThinkGeoEnergy Geothermal Power Plant Map/ thinkgeoenergy.com/map)

Source: LiveCoins