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National Iceland electrical company Landsvirkjun has cut the amount of power it will provide for some industries, including aluminium smelters and Bitcoin miners.<\/p>\n
A representative from the island\u2019s power utility reported<\/a> it has been forced to reduce energy allocations to southwestern Bitcoin miners and various industrial facilities due to a series of issues including a problem at a power station, low hydro-reservoir levels and accessing energy from an external supplier.<\/p>\n Mining operations have long<\/a> been attracted to the country due to its abundance of geothermal energy which is harvested to create a cheap and plentiful supply of renewable energy. But from Dec. 7 for an unknown period of time, any new requests for electricity from mining operations will be rejected, according to Landsvirkjun.<\/p>\n Canada\u2019s Hive Blockchain Technologies<\/a>, Genesis Mining<\/a>, and Bitfury Holding<\/a> are the three main Bitcoin mining companies that have opened facilities in Iceland.<\/p>\n For nearly a decade, miners have tried to realize the promise of environmentally-friendly Bitcoin mining in Iceland. In 2013, Cloud Hashing moved<\/a> 100 miners to Iceland. In November of 2017, Austrian company HydroMiner GmbH raised<\/a> about $2.8 million in its initial coin offering (ICO) to install mining rigs directly at Icelandic power plants. <\/p>\n Less than 1% of the country\u2019s electricity is generated<\/a> from non-renewable sources.<\/p>\n Related: <\/em><\/strong>UN\u2019s COP26 climate change goals include emerging tech and carbon taxes<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The country\u2019s aluminum smelting industry has been hit hardest by the distribution failure. Aluminum prices rose 1.1% on Dec. 7 to reflect the bottleneck in supply created by a recent surge in demand and the present power supply crunch.<\/p>\n Globally, green blockchain initiatives have come into vogue in 2021. COP26 conference thought leaders in Glasgow, Scotland addressed energy-intensive Bitcoin mining. The conference saw the launch of the GloCha United Citizens Organization<\/a> (UCO) for action on Climate Empowerment. It will utilize blockchain technology to advance climate change objectives.<\/p>\n