Riot Blockchain Announces Plans for a 1 GigaWatt Bitcoin Mining Farm in Texas

Quick take:

Riot Blockchain has announced that it plans to develop a 1 GigaWatt Bitcoin mining facility in Navarro County, Texas
The facility is part of its Bitcoin mining and hosting expansion plans, aptly named ‘The Expansion’
The Expansion will start with an initial 400 MegaWatt facility on a 265-acre site and is expected to commence in July 2023
The additional 600 MegaWatt will be added in the future via the 345 kV Navarro switch

The publicly traded Bitcoin mining and hosting services provider of Riot Blockchain has announced plans to develop a 1 GigaWatt (GW) BTC mining facility in Navarro County, Texas. The 1 GW project aptly named ‘The Expansion’ will provide Riot ‘with an industry-leading 1.7 GigaWatt of total development capacity.’

Jason Les, CEO of Riot Blockchain, said:

Upon completion of the Expansion, Riot’s developed capacity will total 1.7 GW, establishing the Company among the largest Bitcoin mining operations globally.

This Expansion is a testament to the Company’s demonstrated ability to build and deliver high-quality large-scale digital asset infrastructure for its Bitcoin mining operations and future hosted clients

The First Phase of the Bitcoin Mining Expansion to Start in July 2023

The Expansion will start with developing an initial 400 MegaWatt (MW) facility on a 265-acre site. Work will begin in July of 2023, and the facility will include ‘immersion-cooled mining and hosting operations.’

The first phase will include land acquisition, site preparation, substation development, transmission line construction, and construction of ‘ancillary buildings and four buildings utilizing the Company’s immersion-cooling infrastructure and technology.’

Riot Blockchain provided a total cost estimate of $333 million for the first phase, which is expected to be invested over the rest of 2022, 2023, and Q1 of 2024.

The company will partner with Priority Power Inc. to support the Expansion. Priority Power and Riot Blockchain have had a long-standing business relationship that started at Riot’s Whinstone US facility in Rockdale, Texas. The Expansion site is roughing two hours from the latter, thus allowing Riot Blockchain and Priority Power to utilize their existing talent pool.

The Capacity of the Bitcoin Mining Site to be Expanded to 600 MW

Once phase one of the Expansion is complete, the site will be expanded by an additional 600 MegaWatt to reach 1 GigaWatt. This will be done through the 345 kV Navarro Switch which is 1,250 feet from the site.

[Feature image courtesy of Bloomberg]