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City breaks record for electric generation

Jun 25, 2018 | 4:31 PM

 

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The city’s record for electricity generation has been broken again.

On Monday, the city says it was generating 220 megawatts of electricity, breaking a record set Thursday of 205 megawatts, according to Brian Strandlund with the city’s electric utility.

“Our city load, with the Hut 8 Mining, now is 180 megawatts,” said Strandlund.

Last week, Hut 8 Mining Corp., a bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining company, went online with the first phase of its operation in Medicine Hat. A total of 16 BlockBox Data Centers have been installed on the land, containing software used to mine for bitcoin.

Currently, Hut 8 is using 20 megawatts of electricity for the first phase. When the remaining 24 Data Centers are installed, the site will use a total of 44 megawatts of electricity.

Strandlund adds the city is currently exporting 63 megawatts of electricity to the province’s power grid, which he says is the result of a new line and tie-in which went online on Monday.

He adds the summer sees an increased demand for electricity.

“As it gets warmer, that will keep increasing as well,” he said.

Strandlund says Unit 16, the new power plant that opened in Box Springs last November, is helping the city handle the increased load.