A huge Yorkshire gas field is set to be used for Bitcoin mining instead of helping boost Britain’s energy supply. The Telegraph has more.
Reabold Resources has been awarded a licence to carry out “gentle” fracking in the West Newton field near Hull, which is estimated to contain up to eight billion cubic metres of gas.
That would be enough to meet more than a tenth of the UK’s annual needs and makes it one of the largest onshore fields discovered in Britain, with the potential to bolster energy security for years to come.
However, Reabold instead plans to construct a small gas-fired power station on the site and use the energy produced to “mine” Bitcoin.
“A private gas supply means we can run a data centre to mine Bitcoin relatively cheaply,” said Sachin Oza, the co-Chief Executive of Reabold Resources, which has just been given a drilling licence by the Environment Agency.
“Initially, this would help fund the further development of the gas field and prove the concept – meaning it could become the precursor to a far larger data centre.”
The scheme has angered environmental groups opposed to new gas fields and fracking in particular.
It is also likely to raise questions in the Government after the war in Iran prompted fears of fuel shortages in the UK.
Bitcoin mining is one of the most energy-intensive of all digital activities. A power station would need to burn around 150,000 cubic metres of gas – the volume of 50 Olympic swimming pools – to generate the electricity needed to create one Bitcoin.
Reabold’s West Newton gas field is so large that it could theoretically power the creation of 50,000 Bitcoins.
Alternatively, it could help provide gas for the whole of the UK. The drilling site lies within a couple of miles of National Gas’s transmission pipeline and so could easily be connected. …
Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, imposed a ban on full-scale fracking last year. The process involves injecting high-pressure water laden with chemicals into rock to create cracks through which gas can flow. …
Despite this, the rules still allow lower-pressure fracking of the kind planned at West Newton. …
The search for Bitcoin is becoming one of the most profitable and energy-intensive global activities, last year estimated to consume 160 terawatt hours of electricity. That’s about 50% of the UK’s entire annual consumption.
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