That was the mantra at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami, where two state Department of Commerce representatives traveled last week to talk with prospective investors in the world of digital currencies.
A combination of cold, dry weather and cheap electricity costs are attracting a growing number of data center operators to North Dakota.
Commerce Commissioner James Leiman said the state’s cryptocurrency pitch is part of a broader effort to diversify an economy largely dependent on commodity markets like oil and agriculture.
And Bismarck-based Rainbow Energy, which is in the process of buying North Dakota’s largest coal-fired power plant , has said it intends to deploy a data center as part of the purchase, though the company has not provided specifics on that plan.
The state’s data center sector could also be expanding soon.
Among the assets pitched by state officials at the Miami Bitcoin conference, Leiman said, was the Cold War-era, pyramid-shaped missile silo complex in the northeastern North Dakota town of Nekoma.
According to the analytic website Digiconomist , a single Bitcoin transaction requires 2,112 kilowatt hours of electricity, equivalent to the 72 days of power consumption in an average U.S.
He added that North Dakota has a limited supply of around-the-clock electricity generation, and data centers will be competing for energy with industrial projects that could provide more jobs and direct benefits to established industries.
Dale Haugen, general manager at Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative, which will be supplying power to the Williston data center, said he’s not concerned about limited electric generation in his area.
And while Tabish stressed that FX Solutions relies on high-caliber equipment and plans to remain in North Dakota for the long term, he also warned of the “hit-and-run” strategies of some crypto miners.
North Dakota offers several advantages to companies looking to sustainably mine digital currencies, Leiman said.
Ongoing efforts to capture the greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-powered sources in North Dakota are also key to the state’s pathway to clean crypto mining, Leiman said.
But carbon carbon capture technology has so far been sparsely used globally, and it remains untested at the scale needed to put a dent into North Dakota’s emissions.
Joshua Rhodes, a research associate at the University of Texas’ Webber Energy Group, said local tax revenues and a limited number of technical jobs are among the economic benefits that data centers can bring to an area.
Still, Rhodes, who has consulted for a Bitcoin company looking for cleaner ways to mine crypto, said powering data centers without increasing emissions requires a number of specific steps.
Koomey also warned against opaque actors in the crypto world who are liable to pick up and leave an area once conditions no longer fit their needs.
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