Bitriver, the largest data center in the former Soviet Union, was opened just a year ago, but has already won clients from all over the world, including the U.S., Japan and China. Most of them mine bitcoins.
The company rents a building near the Bratsk aluminium plant. The world’s single largest aluminum smelter was built by the USSR in 1960s along with the nearby hydropower plant as energy is the largest cost in aluminium smelting.
Three-story racks of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) devices and power units line the wall of the 100 megawatt mining facility. A bank of large industrial fans run the length of the building, providing essential cooling to the machines as they farm cryptocurrencies.
A team of on-site engineers work 24/7 to monitor and perform routine diagnostics on the application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) devices and power units. They wear hearing-protection devices to guard against the noise of the mining rigs and cooling fans.
As the number of cryptocurrencies and tokens multiply—they now reach into the thousands—Bitcoin remains the best-known, time-tested and valuable.
On top of the power supply, another thing that makes Bratsk an ideal place for crypto is the Siberian climate with its long and cold winters. Low temperatures are good for the data center equipment.
Billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s team came up with the idea of building the data center in Bratsk about five years ago. En+ Group Plc and its unit United Co. Rusal, which the sanctioned businessman used to control, own the Bratsk hydropower and aluminium plants.
The Bratskaya hydropower plant on the Angara river. The hydropower generated electricity in the region is amongst some of the cheapest in the world.
While Russian law doesn’t recognize crypto mining, Bitriver isn’t engaged in mining itself and only provides equipment at the data center and technical services, meaning its business is legal.
Deripaska’s companies spent nearly 10 months under sanctions before he reached an agreement with U.S. Treasury to cut his control. The penalties were lifted in January. Continuing sanctions on En+ could have caused troubles for the cryptocurrency miners.
Workers fabricate rack structures to increase capacity of the mining facility. Bitriver says it currently hosts over 20,000 mining devices, with scope for up to 67,000 units.
An on-site technician carries out repairs to mining hardware. Bitriver says all its technicians are both trained and certified by Chinese mining hardware giant Bitmain and Innosilicon.
En+ supplies up to 100 megawatts of power to Bitriver per year as a way to diversify its client base and sell excess energy. Cheap and stable power is also a key ingredient for crypto mining. En+ and Bitriver also have a venture that provides computer racks to crypto miners.
Photographs by Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
Banks of illuminated cryptocurrency mining rigs span the length of the vast building.
An armed guard makes regular patrols inside the main mining hall. The mining units require vast amounts of power to perform the complex mathematical calculations needed to harvest the cryptocurrency.
The Siberian climate makes a perfect home for crypto-companies, the cold air providing natural regulation to the high temperatures generated by the mining rigs, saving investment in expensive cooling systems.
