Power questions
What are your thoughts on using hydropower for this type of industry, such as bitcoin mining?
“When we have excess and spare power, using it is not necessarily unreasonable. However, we must discuss which type of industries are granted access to energy, with utility and future jobs in mind. I believe that we need government guidelines to regulate this type of industry. Also considering data storage which, unlike bitcoin, can be considered as a useful product that we all depend on in a digitalized society,” writes Mayor Stormo in an e-mail.
Mining the digital currency bitcoin requires as known large amounts of energy. The cryptocurrency is mined with the help of computer software which uses computing powers around the clock to solve tasks.
Power and access to power will be decisive factors in the green shift. Therefore, it is important to discuss how we use this power in the future, especially with regard to jobs and ripple effects. I am initially skeptical of this type of industry. However, if Hydrokraft switches its operations to data storage, I believe that would change,” he points out.
Stormo adds that data center storage will be important to have in Norway in the future, especially from a security and vulnerability perspective.
