A gaggle of French lawmakers is making ready a draft regulation that will allow using surplus electrical energy from nuclear energy crops to mine bitcoin
The proposal would set up mining {hardware} at services owned by state utility Électricité de France (EDF), in line with information outlet Le Monde. The method would reap the benefits of surplus vitality generated by these nuclear energy crops.
France is the biggest producer of nuclear energy within the European Union, in line with 2023 information from Eurostat. It accounted for 338,202 gigawatt hours, or greater than half the 27-nation bloc’s whole output. The warmth produced by nuclear fission is used to supply electrical energy, however greater than two-thirds of it’s misplaced, the statistics company mentioned.
“It’s a safe and intensely worthwhile answer,” mentioned Aurélien Lopez-Liguori, a member of parliament concerned in drafting the invoice. The draft continues to be within the early levels and follows a beforehand rejected modification from June that urged evaluating crypto mining’s contribution to France’s vitality combine.
Tapping surplus vitality to mine bitcoin isn’t a brand new idea. In Might, Pakistan dedicated 2,000 megawatts of electrical energy to mine bitcoin and to energy synthetic intelligence information facilities, benefiting from coal-fired energy crops working at 15% capability.
Equally, main stablecoin issuer Tether is exploring BTC mining utilizing surplus renewable vitality from South American agribusiness agency Adecoagro. Tether owns a 70% stake in Adecoagro.