Renewable computing company Soluna Holdings and crypto mining hardware manufacturer Canaan recently announced a partnership to launch a 20-megawatt wind-powered bitcoin mining project in Texas. The data center, known as Project Dorothy, will primarily run on wind energy with a supplemental grid connection to ensure steady, uninterrupted operation.
"The site primarily runs on behind-the-meter wind power but can also draw from the grid to ensure very high uptime," Nangeng Zhang, chairman and CEO of Canaan, said in a news release. "This is a unique advantage that combines reliable operations with compelling cost efficiency."
To understand how the operation will work, it helps to understand how "behind-the-meter" wind power works. Sometimes, the electrical grid can't use all the wind power produced by a wind farm. Instead of wasting that excess energy or shutting down turbines, Soluna's data center is built directly next to the wind farm to make use of this surplus electricity.
This setup, known as "behind-the-meter," allows the facility to draw power straight from the wind source, bypassing the public grid. When the wind farm generates more electricity than the grid needs, Soluna captures that leftover power to run high-powered computers for crypto mining using Canaan's hardware, rather than letting it go unused.
The partnership is expected to begin operations in early 2026, aiming to deliver around one exahash per second of computing power — a massive capacity for bitcoin mining.
Traditionally, most crypto mining operations rely on grid electricity, which often comes from dirty energy sources, though a Cambridge study recently found that Bitcoin (perhaps the most well known type of cryptocurrency) now pulls more than half of its power from sustainable energy sources.
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Nonetheless, mining requires a lot of power. NerdWallet reported that global bitcoin mining consumes more electricity than some entire countries, driving significant carbon pollution. By tapping into renewable, otherwise wasted wind energy, Soluna and Canaan's project offers a cleaner, more sustainable model for powering the digital economy.
Though surplus renewable energy reduces waste and pollution, crypto mining remains an energy-intensive process that poses ongoing environmental challenges. Even when powered by clean energy, the sheer amount of computing required to mine bitcoin produces significant electronic waste and requires constant hardware upgrades. It will take more innovation and consideration to clean up the industry — but projects like this are a huge step forward.
In addition to Project Dorothy, Soluna is currently developing more renewable-powered data centers, which will utilize wind power to run more intensive computing tasks, including further crypto mining and artificial intelligence programs.
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