Quebec’s energy chief to cut supply to crypto mining due to shortages

Cryptocurrencies are generated via a process known as cryptomining that uses a lot of electrical power. And higher energy consumption has consequently led to power shortages in several regimes due to increased mining activity.

Quebec, a Canadian province, faces similar problems. And now the makeshift energy provider wants to cut the power sources for miners to survive in the winter when sub-zero temperatures require residents to use heaters and other electrical gadgets to survive.

In this regard, the power management company Hydro Quebec, which controls, generates and distributes electric power across the province of Quebec in Canada, submitted a report to the energy board on November 1. The distributor in the report asked the government to allow the hydroelectric plant. electric power plant to limit energy supply to crypto miners.

Hydro Quebec pointed to the reason behind the need to reduce power for crypto mining, expressing concern about the “reliability and security” of electricity for Quebec residents. Furthermore, the firm had already assessed the demand for electric power through cryptocurrency, greenhouse farming and green hydrogen.

At Hydro-Quebec’s request, Pierre Fitzgibbon, a Canadian politician and legislator, tweeted Nov. 3 to express its favor with Hydro Quebec’s request.

However, he said the government would ask the Energy Board to release the platform from its obligations to supply energy to crypto mining farms. The firm allocates 270 MW of electricity to mining platforms per current commitment. Besides this amount of electricity being supplied, energy demand in the crypto sector continues to increase, putting pressure on the energy supplier.

The power demand for crypto mining will continue to increase

The report revealed that the energy demand of crypto mining activities will continue to grow as digital assets gain more ground daily. According to The growth in demand for electricity will continue in Quebec report, the highest demand for mining energy is 0.7 terawatts per hour (TWh) in a ten-year time frame, which is expected to occur in 2028.

Hydro-Québec added;

The additional energy demand in winter is high, and this without the addition of the load linked to the balance of the block reserved for cryptographic use on blockchains. There is an expected energy purchase of almost 3 [terawatt-hours] in winter from 2025 and even over 3 TWh in 2027.

In addition, mining companies in the regime have been paying additional taxes for their operations to the Quebec government since March 2021. While the government seeks to control the burden on the power grid, it also provides opportunities to expand mining operations.

The province of Quebec does not appear to be the first to have problems managing electricity due to crypto mining. For example, Kosovo and Iran have faced an energy crisis. In particular, Iranian authorities became aggressive when they saw the critical issues, and a previous report reveals that the police have confiscated over 9,000 mining machines until August.

Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView.com