Quebec energy manager to seek government approval to stop powering crypto miners

Energy provider Hydro-Quebec cited high energy demands expected during the Canadian winter in its reasons for reallocating 270 megawatts to businesses of crypto-mining. New

Hydro-Quebec, the company that manages electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, plans to reallocate the energy supplied to crypto-mining companies.

According to a Nov. 3 tweet from Canadian lawmaker Pierre Fitzgibbon, the government will seek an executive order from the energy board to release the company from its obligation to power crypto miners in the province. Hydro-Quebec has allocated 270 megawatts to mining companies, but demand for electricity in Quebec is expected to increase to such an extent that the power of crypto will put pressure on the energy supplier.

Hydro-Quebec's report filed with the government's energy board on Nov. 1 says temporary reductions in electricity supplied to mining companies could help prevent threats to "reliability and security " energy for the residents of Quebec. The distributor said it took into account the demand for electricity from green hydrogen, cryptocurrencies and greenhouse agriculture.

"Additional energy requirements in winter are high, without the addition of the block balance load reserved for cryptographic use applied to blockchains," said Hydro-Quebec. "We expect energy purchases of nearly 3 [terawatt hours] in winter from 2025 and even more than 3 TWh in 2027."

This is discussed in our 2022-2032 supply plan submitted to the Régie de l'énergie. We have requested the suspension of the allocation of electricity to the blockchain sector https://t.co/cZWgsvQk0V https://t.co/ZVsCiX95qf

– Hydro-Quebec (@hydroquebec) November 3, 2022