A gaggle of French lawmakers is making ready a draft regulation that will allow using surplus electrical energy from nuclear energy vegetation to mine bitcoin
The proposal would set up mining {hardware} at services owned by state utility Électricité de France (EDF), based on information outlet Le Monde. The method would benefit from surplus vitality generated by these nuclear energy vegetation.
France is the biggest producer of nuclear energy within the European Union, based on 2023 information from Eurostat. It accounted for 338,202 gigawatt hours, or greater than half the 27-nation bloc’s complete 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 very worthwhile answer,” mentioned Aurélien Lopez-Liguori, a member of parliament concerned in drafting the invoice. The draft remains to be within the early levels and follows a beforehand rejected modification from June that advised evaluating crypto mining’s contribution to France’s vitality combine.
Tapping surplus vitality to mine bitcoin isn’t a brand new idea. In Could, Pakistan dedicated 2,000 megawatts of electrical energy to mine bitcoin and to energy synthetic intelligence information facilities, benefiting from coal-fired energy vegetation operating 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.