Landsvirkjun, Iceland’s primary power utility service, has cut off the power to the country’s most power-intensive sectors. As a result, Bitcoin mining has also been affected. The service has also rejected miners’ requests for connecting new mining facilities to the country’s power grid because of an immediate power deficit.
The power deficit is happening due to a number of reasons. For starters, the demand for power has skyrocketed in recent times, which has had a role to play. This is one of the reasons that was brought to the fore by Tinna Traustadottir, the vice president of Landsvirkjun’s sales and customer service. Traustadottir also said that aluminum smelters are Iceland’s biggest consumers of electricity. In addition, the smelters secure long-term power supply to cut costs further.
News house Bloomberg, in its coverage of Iceland’s power crisis, reported that an external producer failed to deliver power on time. Another issue is the failure of Landsvirkjun in serving load points from Karahnjukavirkjun, Iceland’s largest power station. However, the failure is due to the limitations in the power distribution system of the country.
Iceland is one of the most attractive areas in the world as far as crypto mining is concerned. Right now, the country serves as the mining hub for companies such as Bitfury Holding (China) and Hive Blockchain Technologies (Canada). While the mining facilities of these companies are still operational, for the time being, new facilities have to do without electricity.
