As of December 2019, the country imported around 20% of its electricity. It’s important to note that El Salvador has much better uses for any new geothermal. If for political reasons, rather than economic ones. If Bitcoin volcano mining actually resulted in a new geothermal plant - which it hasn’t as yet - then that would be the first verified example of Bitcoin mining resulting in new renewable energy. This new well was planned for years - but then Bukele suddenly declared it would be used for Bitcoin. There is indeed a new geothermal well that came online in June, at a plant whose total capacity is around 95 MW. In June, Bukele also promised a new 95 megawatt geothermal plant to mine bitcoins. Paying three times the going rate for your business inputs is not a sustainable enterprise. You might be able to make a profit with the Bitcoin price as high as it is at the moment - but bubbles pop. Industrial electricity in El Salvador is around 13 to 15c/kWh. Digiconomist calculates Bitcoin energy consumption using a world average Bitcoin mining price of 5c/kWh. When China kicked the miners out in May, they tried various small countries with remarkably cheap electricity, but not such reliable grids, such as Kazakhstan or Abkhazia - but the miners have mostly settled into cheap local markets in the US and Canada, often using fossil fuels. So you go wherever reliable electricity is cheapest.įrom 2013 to 2021, that was China - with the cheapest commercial electricity in the world, at 2 to 4 cents per kilowatt-hour. When you mine Bitcoin, you’re competing directly with every other Bitcoin miner in the world. This is purely performative - because Bitcoin mining in El Salvador makes no economic sense. President Nayib Bukele tweeted a video: a shipping container of miners has been set up at a LaGeo geothermal power plant, in Berlín, Usulután! Today’s big announcement: Volcano-powered Bitcoin mining starts in El Salvador!Īnd the Chivo network still doesn’t work properly or reliably.

La prensa de el salvador