Bitcoin Mining Ban: Chinese Province to Maximize Idle Energy
While experts keep highlighting the downsides to China’s Bitcoin mining ban, a Chinese province, Guizhou is literally looking to make lemons out of lemonades. The exodus of Bitcoin miners from China has left the country with idle energy, since mining operations are known to be energy-intensive. However, authorities in Guizhou Province intend to convert this idle power to good use by building Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations.
Climate Consciousness Underlines Guizhou Province’s EV Initiative
This initiative is driven by climate consciousness, the same factor that prompted China’s mining ban. Guizhou Province authorities aim to limit the number of vehicles powered by fossil fuels to protect the province against carbon pollution. To achieve this, the Chinese southern province will be building not less than 4,500 EV charging plants before this year runs out. Upping the ante, the number of charging plants will increase to 5,000 by 2022 and an additional 500 stations bringing them to a total of 5,500 the subsequent year.
According to reports, Beijing’s crackdown on Chinese miners resulted in 55 terawatt-hours of idle energy, which will suffice to power a developed city inhabited by 1 million people for 33 years or 10 million Tesla 3s electric vehicles for one year.
China’s mining ban starting from May had attracted mixed reactions, including criticisms globally. One that stood out is Bloomberg expert, Mike McGlone’s critical comments, in which he noted that the mining ban was not a wise decision and could bring the country to its knees economically.
Expert Says Mining Ban to China’s Advantage
In contrast, an expert at a privately-owned equity firm, Unity Asset Management, believes that the plan by authorities in the province bears a double-edged advantage for the country’s economy. He added that it could also bring China closer to achieving its decarbonization goal.
Guizhou’s provincial authorities will capitalize on the idle electricity to entice about 38 million residents within the province to align their lifestyle with Beijing’s green policy. It is expected that China will provide incentives in order to encourage compliance. Ultimately, Guizhou province hopes to have established 38,000 charging plants in the next two years, with each town owning at least one.
On a larger scale, although China has achieved a 47% increase in the number of EV charging plants since 2020, most of these plants are concentrated in high brow regions within the country. Consequently, the exodus of miners from erstwhile mining locations could pave the way for China to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles in line with its carbon-neutral stance.
China is not the only that has tightened the noose around mining operations. In July, Iranian authorities issued a temporary order to mining farms directing them cease operations until September as the country battles with summer. Another advantage of China’s mining ban is the decentralization of the global hash rate for Bitcoin. Until the ban, China hosted 75% of the hash rate. It has reportedly dropped to 46%.
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