In a press release posted on Twitter on Monday, Volcano Energy revealed $1 billion in commitments for the construction of a 241 MW bitcoin mine in the Metapán region of El Salvador.According to a different news release shared with CoinDesk, one of the investors is Tether, the creator of the stablecoin USDT.According to press releases, 169 MW of solar energy and 72 MW of wind energy will be used to power the mining site, providing computational power of more than 1.3 exahashes per second (EH/s).It will be situated in Santa Ana, Metapán, in the northwest of the nation.
In planning and execution, the government will play “a crucial role” and has agreed to a “preferred participation equivalent to 23% of revenues,” according to Volcano.The enterprise will be 27% owned by outside investors, with the remaining 50% being “reinvested” to increase mining and energy production capabilities, according to the company.The geothermal energy potential of El Salvador has been the subject of earlier mining ventures, but it was unclear how the planned solar and wind energy park would be related to volcanic activity.Volcano stated in its news release that this mining site is meant to be a “pathway to our geothermal future,” but it didn’t elaborate.
According to Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino, Tether has been working to broaden its “strategic ecosystem,” and Volcano Energy is one of the “most ground-breaking” projects it has supported.The stablecoin issuer has been active in recent weeks on the investment front, investing in Uruguayan bitcoin mining and buying bitcoin to increase its reserves backing USDT.Due to the lack of chances for new advancements in North America, mining companies and other investors have been searching for investment opportunities in other regions, such as the Middle East and Latin America.