Russia’s Biggest Energy Provider Rosseti to Launch Crypto Mining Operations

Rosseti, Russia’s biggest energy provider, will launch crypto mining operations, allowing select power supply centers to work with Bitcoin mining firms.

Per the Russian state-run news agency TASS, Rosseti is ready to position itself as an “operator for hosting mining infrastructure.”

Rosseti: Growing Crypto Keen?

The move would be a major departure for Rosseti, which has spent much of the past few years hunting down illegal and “grey” miners in parts of the country.

The power firm says it wants to focus its attention on “power supply centers with low utilization prospects.” TASS quoted the company as stating:

“The Rosseti Group is the largest grid company in Russia. We can act as the operator that coordinates the placement of crypto mining infrastructure.”

The development appears to confirm an earlier report from the media outlet Kommersant, which late last week claimed to have seen a letter sent to Russian Prime Minister and de facto energy chief Mikhail Mishustin from the Rosseti Group head Andrei Ryumin.

Prime Minister to Rule on Rosseti Request?

Ryumin reportedly wants Mishustin to grant Rosseti official permission “to coordinate the placement of mining centers in Russian regions.”

Rosseti officials stated that the company was “also interested in developing [crypto] mining, since this will facilitate the use of [spare or idle] capacity.”

It will also “increase the load of power supply centers and increase the company’s tariff revenue,” Rosseti said.

And the firm stated that all this would help “boost the development of the Russian economy” and “bolster tax revenues.”

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Incentivized Crypto Mining

The power provider said it was discussing the use of “various tools” to incentivize “power centers with low potential loads” to turn to crypto mining. These could involve “separate types of tariffs,” Rosseti said.

The company moved to explain that its affiliates “have the ability to control electricity consumption.”

They can thus reportedly use “operational data on the availability of free capacity and loads” to “ensure the reliability of electricity supply” to Russia’s regions.

“Our entire electrical grid infrastructure has switching tools and other equipment that will help manage the load from [crypto] mining facilities.”

Rosseti spokesperson

Last year, the state-run oil and gas firm Gazprom launched a crypto mining subsidy. The same firm is reportedly building a 5,000-rig Bitcoin (BTC) mining center in the historic city of Velikiy Novgorod.