Digital payments company Block (formerly Square) and bitcoin infrastructure firm Blockstream have started building a solar- and battery-powered bitcoin mine in Texas.

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Notably, the mining facility will be solely powered by Tesla’s megawatt solar PV array and 12 megawatt-hour Megapack: a powerful lithium-ion battery that provides energy storage and support.

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“By collaborating on this full-stack, 100% solar-powered bitcoin mining project with Blockstream, using solar and storage technology from Tesla, we aim to further accelerate bitcoin’s synergy with renewables,” said Neil Jorgensen, global ESG lead at Block and project lead for Block’s Bitcoin Clean Energy Initiative.

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In 2021, Jack Dorsey’s Block first teased the initiative as part of its pledge to be carbon neutral by 2030. Block and Blockstream will evenly split the $12 million development. Once it is up and running later this year, the mine is projected to have 30 petahash/second in computing power and 3.8 Megawatts of solar renewable power.

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Once the facility is up and running, there will be a public dashboard that shows the real-time metrics of the Bitcoin mining project. The dashboard will include information on the power output of the mining facility as well as the amount of Bitcoin mined.

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It will be available for the public to see 24/7 from any browser. The dashboard will essentially provide the Bitcoin mining industry as well as the public with a real-world, real-time case study of a zero-emission energy Bitcoin mine that can showcase whether it is possible to mine Bitcoin in an environmentally friendly way.

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