Locals pleased to see Hut 8 site fully operational ahead of schedule

“To see things come online kind of in the middle of summer, two months ahead of schedule is obviously a very big deal,” said Randall. “It’s good to see things progress so quickly.”

The first 16 data centres were delivered to the site near the Box Springs power plant in June, while the remaining 24 were installed ahead of Hut 8’s September projection.

Randall and Invest Medicine Hat met with Hut 8 when they first moved to town after their announcement back in March and said they were ready to get to work from day one.

“They seemed like they were really plug in and play,” he said. “And they must have been, because you don’t get things done that fast if you don’t know what you’re doing.”

The 40 processors are now running around the clock to crack complicated online algorithms to earn cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.

Mayor Ted Clugston got a first hand look at the site on Thursday and was impressed with what he saw.

“You’ve got all these servers with fans,” said Clugston. “They’re sucking in air and they’re blowing out hot air out the back, and they’re just whirling so quickly. The calculation speeds… it’s mind-boggling actually what they’re doing out there.”

In March, the City and Hut 8 signed a 10-year deal to supply power to the site with the City expecting a sizable profit off the electrical usage from the cryptocurrency company.

The 42-megawatt project is pushing the City’s power usage to peak levels, but Clugston said there’s no threat to the main power grid.

“We’re setting some peak electricity consumption or demand, however you want to look at it,” he said. “But, there’s more than enough electricity, air conditioners are still coming on.”

CHAT News reached out to Hut 8 for an interview on Friday, however they weren’t able to provide a comment before deadline.

In a media release earlier in the week, new president and CEO Andrew Kiguel expressed his excitement about the Medicine Hat project.

“As a result of our employees’ hard work, our partners at the Bitfury Group and the cooperation from the City of Medicine Hat, our construction is complete – ahead of schedule and on budget. We are pleased to have surpassed our September 2018 completion target,” said Andrew Kiguel, president and Chief Executive Officer of Hut 8. “With 66.7 MW of aggregate operating capacity, we believe we are the largest cryptocurrency miner in Canada and the largest publicly-traded cryptocurrency miner by operating capacity in the world. In addition, we are actively pursuing further opportunities to deliver value to our investors.”

According to Randall, statements like the one Kiguel made bode well for attracting future business to Medicine Hat.

“We pop our head above the sand a little bit and say, ‘Now Medicine Hat is getting a little bit of global shine.’ We don’t want to overstate it because it is just one facility, but it is good to kind of get companies that do have a global presence speaking about us like that.”

Clugston added while it’s been a relatively short process getting Hut 8 to set up shop in the ‘Gas City,’ he’s pleased nonetheless to see everything falling into place.

“There’s a sense of satisfaction there, we worked hard with this group to bring them here. What has amazed me is how quickly it has gone, we started maybe conversations last August.”

Around 100 construction workers built the facility, while 42 full-time employees will now watch over the servers and the site.

by Scott Roblin

Locals pleased to see Hut 8 site fully operational ahead of schedule

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