TeraWulf (WULF) has begun operations at its Nautilus Cryptomine facility – the first nuclear-powered bitcoin mining facility in the U.S. – with nearly 8,000 mining rigs online representing computing power, or hashrate, of about 1.0 exahash per seond (EH/s).
The company expects to have about another 8,000 rigs energized in coming weeks, bringing capacity at the Pennsylvania-based Nautilus facility to 1.9 EH/s by May, according to a Monday press release.
Nautilus will significantly lower TeraWulf’s energy costs, with the company having secured a power agreement for 2 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) of power for five years, which will bring its average energy cost down to about 4 cents/kWh across its two facilities. That’s much lower than the U.S. industrial average of 9 cents/kWh that the Energy Information Administration reported in December 2022, as well as the variable rate TeraWulf pays at its New York site, which averages 5 cents/kWh.
The Nautilus mine is “the first behind-the-meter bitcoin mining facility of its kind, directly sourcing reliable, carbon free, and 24×7 baseload power from the 2.5GW Susquehanna nuclear generation station in Pennsylvania,” according to TeraWulf. It is a joint venture with Texas energy producer Talen Energy, in which TeraWulf has a 25% interest.
The company said Monday it expects to reach 5.5 EH/s of computing power by early in the second quarter.
WULF stock is down 2.5% to 64 cents in recent Monday trading.
