The company says the considerably lower cost of electricity in Sarawak will enable it to mine Bitcoin more cost-effectively.
It is estimated that Bitcoin mining consumes electricity at an annualised rate of 127 terawatt-hours , a usage that exceeds the entire annual electricity consumption of Norway.
It said it would fit out the facility with Bitcoin mining machines housed in containerised shells. The new machines, along with the lower cost of electricity in Sarawak, would enable it to mine Bitcoin “cost-effectively”, SMI Vantage said. A check with the Tenaga Nasional Bhd website showed that the low voltage industrial tariff is 38 sen per kilowatt hour for the first 200kWh per month. For the next 201kWh per month, the tariff increases to 44.10 sen.
As the state’s electricity tariff is lower than TNB’s, it also explains why SMI Vantage did not set up shop across the Causeway in Johor.