Rosseti, Russia’s electric grid operator, is exploring crypto mining to utilize electricity from power plants with low consumption. This could involve building mining centers and potentially coordinating their placement nationwide.
Russian Grid Operator Rosseti Eyes Crypto Mining to Power Up Underused Plants
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Boosting Rosseti’s Revenues
The Russian electric grid operator, Rosseti, is reportedly interested in establishing crypto mining centers powered by power plants with low utilization rates. Rosseti also reportedly envisions becoming the operator for coordinating the placement of crypto mining infrastructure.
According to a TASS report, Rosseti is considering ways to stimulate electricity demand in areas with low energy consumption. The news of Rosseti’s interest in crypto mining coincides with ongoing crackdowns by Russian authorities on electricity theft by “illegal” Bitcoin miners.
Since facing sanctions from Western countries, Russia has generally allowed Bitcoin mining, but only in regions with surplus power. It has cracked down on miners in several Russian regions as well as some in occupied Ukraine. As reported by Bitcoin.com News in late 2024, the Russian Energy Ministry proposed a ban on crypto mining in these regions between December and March for the next six years.
However, as explained in the TASS report, Russia still has regions with low electricity demand. Rosseti reportedly wants to leverage this unutilized electricity to power crypto mining facilities. Commenting on the plans to lure miners to regions with low load potential, Rosseti said:
“In this regard, the company is also interested in developing mining, since this will facilitate the use of free capacity, increase the load of power supply centers, increase the company’s tariff revenue, as well as the development of the economy and the growth of tax payments.”
To entice miners to low-demand areas, Rosseti said it will offer concessionary tariffs and deploy a power management system to monitor and control miners’ energy consumption.
Meanwhile, a report in another Russian media outlet Kommersant said Andrei Ryumin, head of the Rosseti Group, has written to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin requesting authority to coordinate the distribution of crypto mining infrastructure across the country.
