A little river in the middle of coffee plantations, sugar cane fields, and a forest in Costa Rica delivers energy to a hydroelectric power station that feeds hundreds of computers used for cryptocurrency mining.
More than 650 machines from 150 clients run nonstop from eight containers near the Poas River, 35 kilometers (22 miles) from San Jose, the capital of a country that gets nearly all of its electricity from renewable sources.
After 30 years, the plant was compelled to reinvent itself because the government ceased buying electricity during the pandemic due to excess power supply in the Central American country, where the government controls energy distribution.
“We had to pause activity for nine months, and exactly one year ago I heard about Bitcoin, blockchain, and digital mining,” said Eduardo Kooper, president of the family business that owns the 60-hectare farm Data Center CR and the plant.
Costa Rica’s central bank said it was providing space for technological innovation to allow a Fintech industry to take shape and was constantly monitoring developments.
So far all Data Center CR customers are local, such as Mauricio Rodriguez, a 31-year-old computer security engineer who entered digital mining to earn extra money from home in 2021 with equipment valued at $7,000.
“Installing it in this place is much more profitable than at home,” at almost half the cost, he calculated, after connecting his computer to the network at the river-powered plant.
