Costa Rica hydro plant gets new lease on life from crypto mining – Reuters

Costa Rica hydro plant gets new lease on life from crypto mining – Reuters

SAN PEDRO DE POAS, Costa Rica, Jan 11 (Reuters) - A small river in the middle of coffee plantations, sugar cane fields and a forest provides energy to a hydroelectric power plant in Costa Rica that feeds hundreds of computers wired up to the cryptocurrency mining business.

More than 650 machines from 150 customers operate non-stop from eight containers powered by the plant next to the Poas River, 35 kilometers (22 miles) from San Jose, the capital of a country that generates nearly all its energy from green sources.

The plant was forced to reinvent itself after 30 years because the government stopped buying electricity during the pandemic due to surplus power supply in the Central American country, where the state has a monopoly on energy distribution.