Riot Blockchain, one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies, said it has started to develop a 1 gigawatt (GW) expansion project in Navarro County, Texas, according to a company press release. 

Riot also took to Twitter saying that all immersion-cooled mining and hosting operations should be expected by July 2023. 

The expansion will result in one of the largest facilities and will take place in phrases. The first phase will consist of land acquisition, site preparation, substation development, transmission construction, along with construction of ancillary buildings and four buildings utilizing immersion-cooling infrastructure and technology. This phase is estimated to cost around $333 million. 

After completing the first 400 MW phase, they will gradually upgrade the capacity to 600 MW, then 1,000 MW or 1 GW. 

“Upon completion of the expansion, Riot’s developed capacity will total 1.7 GW, establishing the Company among the largest bitcoin mining operations globally,” said Riot CEO Jason Les in the statement.

Riot will strategically align themselves with Priority Power Inc., an industry leader in Bitcoin mining energy services, to support the expansion. Currently their services include managing site development, utility interconnection, power purchase agreements and power load flexibility. Their initial relationship began with the development of the Riot’s Whinstone Facility in Rockdale, Texas.

The expansion site is located about an hour south of Dallas and within two hours of Riot’s Whinstone facility, which has a total power capacity of 750MW with 400MW currently developed.

As of March 31, Riot held approximately 6,062 Bitcoin worth approximately $236 million, all produced by the Company’s self-mining operations.

On April 5, Riot announced they anticipate by January of next year, the company will have a self-mining hashrate capacity of 12.8 EH/s. In addition its facilities host approximately 200MW capacity for institutional clients.

Author: Tyler Irvin

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