Indiana lawmakers have assured mega-corporations of “ample amounts” of low-cost power and water, hoping to attract and serve data centers and cryptocurrency mining operations in the region.
Large companies like Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, along with the cryptocurrency mining firm AboutBit, have either invested or plan to invest in building their facilities in the state.
While Indiana provides financial incentives to organizations, AboutBit and other cryptocurrency miners are not eligible for these state programs.
Data centers for financial benefit
In May, Amazon announced plans to invest $11 billion in Indiana, to which Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb said:
“(Amazon) wouldn’t have made the commitment without the confidence that we can supply both the power and the water.”
In addition, Commerce Secretary David Rosenberg, head of the Indiana Economic Development Corp., said the state has “ample amounts of both” power and water.
AboutBit had transformed a 50-year-old power station into a sustainable liquid-cooled cryptocurrency mining facility. It currently runs next to the Merom Generating Station in Indiana.
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Bitcoin mining energy consumption
As of May 28, U.S. Bitcoin (BTC) miners have spent $2.7 billion on electricity this year.
“Since the start of 2024, Bitcoin mining in the U.S. has consumed an enormous 20,822.62 GWh of electric power,” said Paul Hoffman, an analyst at Best Brokers. “At the average commercial electricity rate of $0.1281 per kWh as of February, this amounts to an expenditure of $2,667,378,196.47.”
Before the Bitcoin halving in April, mining one BTC required 407,059.01 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, which cost approximately $52,144.26. Since the halving, the electricity needed to mine one BTC has increased to 862,635.55 kWh, which costs around $110,503.61 at average commercial rates.
Hoffman explained: “This amount of energy could charge every electric vehicle in the U.S. 87.52 times or power 1,983,107 households for a year, which is 1.51% of all U.S. households.”
In January, the Bitcoin ESG Forecast revealed that sustainable energy use in Bitcoin mining has increased to a new all-time high of 54.5%, with sustainable mining rising by 3.6% overall during 2023.
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