A private group announced Monday that it will invest $1 billion to build a renewable energy plant and, in the future, a bitcoin mining farm in El Salvador, which promises to be “one of the largest in the world.”
“The total commitment for the project is $1 billion,” the private group Volcano Energy, formed by entrepreneurs in the cryptocurrency sector, said in a statement.
According to Volcano Energy, an initial short-term investment of $250 million will be made, which contemplates the construction of a power plant based on wind and solar energy.
The power plant will be built on the outskirts of the city of Metapán, about 100 km northwest of the capital San Salvador.
“The total power generation capacity will be 169 MW (megawatts) of photovoltaic energy and 72 MW of wind energy, resulting in a capacity of 241 MW,” Volcano Energy said.
The group did not specify when the plant will begin construction or when it is expected to start operating.
However, Volcano Energy assured that with the construction of this power plant it will “pave the way to install one of the largest (bitcoin) mining farms in the world”. The installation of this mining project is part of the millionaire investment.
Volcano Energy indicated that the money for the investment has been obtained with contributions from international private investors in the cryptocurrency sector.
Currently, the Salvadoran government operates a small bitcoin mining farm installed on the grounds of a geothermal power generating plant on the outskirts of the city of Berlin, about 125 kms west of San Salvador.
In September 2021, El Salvador became the first country to adopt bitcoin, along with the dollar, which has been in circulation since 2001. But the cryptocurrency’s price plummeted and has had little acceptance in the country.
