How the US can use Greenland as a 10,000 EH/s Bitcoin mining hub from stranded energy

Discuss of the US shopping for Greenland is returning to Washington, and miners are pursuing energy initiatives on the island.

Based on Reuters, the White Home mentioned the US buy of Greenland was “actively mentioned.”

A extra sensible look ahead to Bitcoin miners is Greenland’s industrial energy venture.

How Greenland’s hydropower interprets into precise Bitcoin mining capability

Based on Naalakkersuuisut.gl, the Authorities of Greenland has introduced that it plans to open a public tender within the second half of 2026 for the 2 largest hydropower crops for mapped industrial use, Tasselsiak (web site 07.e) and Tarsaltuap Tasselsua (web site 06.g).

Collectively, the 2 websites will be capable to generate greater than 9,500 gigawatt hours of electrical energy yearly.

Mining calculations are straightforward.

Based on Bitmain, Bitmain’s Antminer S21 specs checklist 200 TH/s at 3,500 watts, or roughly 17.5 joules per terahash.

Utilizing a deliberate energy effectivity worth (cooling and overhead) near 1.1, 1 megawatt of facility energy is equal to roughly 0.052 exahash/second (EH/s) at 17.5 J/TH.

This implies roughly 0.041 to 0.061 EH/s throughout the 15 to 22 J/TH effectivity band.

Greenland’s put in base is way smaller than the bid’s ambitions.

Nukissiorfiit’s annual report reviews that the corporate’s complete system hydropower capability is roughly 91.3 MW, with a mean electrical energy gross sales worth of roughly DKK 1.81 per kilowatt hour in 2024.

Retail-style pricing at that stage clearly doesn’t correspond to the economics of the mining trade.

Giant constructions subsequently depend on industrial energy buy agreements or new-generation behind-the-meter provides, reasonably than buying energy like common prospects.

The shortage of a nationwide energy grid narrows the trail to scale.

Based on Trapp Greenland, energy crops sometimes serve cities and settlements as native methods with restricted interconnections.

This pushes the sooner idea of “stranded” or surplus power in direction of coexisting versatile hundreds in a given plant.

Based on Greenland Evaluation, Greenland’s report discusses using surplus power with a view to lowering power prices.

In case you can mixture 5 to 25 megawatts behind the meter close to your current generator, the higher restrict can be roughly 0.21 to 1.52 EH/s throughout the 15 to 22 J/TH band (roughly 0.26 to 1.30 EH/s at 17.5 J/TH).

That is adequate for pilots, however not sufficient to drive world community share.

The subsequent tier is Nuuk’s major hydroelectric energy plant.

Increasing Bitcoin mining in Greenland: From surplus energy testing to grid-level enlargement

Buxefjord is deliberate to develop from 45 MW to 121 MW, with building beginning in 2026 and commissioning focused for 2032, Nunagreen mentioned.

The European Funding Financial institution’s venture pipeline refers back to the building of the roughly 76 MW Buksefjord-3 close to an current 45 MW energy plant.

If an output of fifty to 121 MW is contracted to the miner, {the electrical} cap can be roughly 2.07 to 7.33 EH/s throughout the 15 to 22 J/TH band (roughly 2.6 to six.3 EH/s at 17.5 J/TH).

This assumes that these megawatts will not be absorbed by Nuuk’s demand development and electrification plans.

Two bids put Greenland within the dialogue for gigawatts.

Greater than 9,500 GWh per 12 months equates to roughly 1.08 gigawatts of common energy when absolutely utilized.

Which means that the power-limited hashrate is capped at roughly 44.8-65.7 EH/s throughout the 15-22 J/TH band (roughly 56.0 EH/s at 17.5 J/TH).

Based on minerstat, the monitoring web site estimates Bitcoin’s hash price to be round 1.03 to 1.17 zetahashes per second (ZH/s), and minerstat’s problem stage is near 148 trillion.

On this baseline, a completely utilized 1.08 GW mine would characterize roughly 4-6% of at this time’s community hash price, a share that shrinks as the worldwide hash price grows.

May capital linked to President Trump look to Greenland’s surplus power to develop Bitcoin mining?

Mining capitals linked to Trump have already been fashioned, which is why Greenland’s electrical energy calendar is attracting consideration throughout the sector.

Hut 8 partnered with Eric Trump to launch American Bitcoin, combining Hut 8’s mining operations with a bunch of buyers that included Donald Trump Jr., however Hut 8 retained an 80% stake.

Based on the corporate, American Bitcoin mentioned that as of September 1, 2025, the put in hashrate has expanded to roughly 24 EH/s and the fleet effectivity is roughly 16.4 J/TH.

Utilizing the identical PUE 1.1 deliberate worth, 24 EH/s means roughly 430 MW of facility energy at 16.4 J/TH (roughly 460 MW at 17.5 J/TH).

Which means that if the offtake is devoted to mining and transmission and building schedules are clear, the 1.08 GW of bid tools might probably energy a Bitcoin-sized fleet in america a number of instances if absolutely utilized.

Even in a “what if” sovereignty situation, the constraints stay lifelike.

Industrial hydropower requires multi-year building, important logistics, and long-term water withdrawals, and mines require resilient information hyperlinks, spare elements, and the flexibility to import ASIC fleets.

Tasas mentioned Greenland Join connects Canada, Nuuk, Qakortok and Iceland with an undersea cable, however transmission to distant hydro basins just isn’t resolved.

Clear, secure megawatts additionally face competitors from different hundreds.

The Worldwide Vitality Company has warned that AI might enhance demand for electrical energy from information facilities, elevating the chance value of dedicating long-term renewable power output to mining.

Diplomacy will form funding circumstances primarily based on the “Trump Greenland Mine” argument.

Based on Reuters, European officers careworn that Greenland’s standing is predicated on consent and sovereignty norms.

Greenland’s bidding spherical, scheduled for late 2026, will set the baseline for large-scale Bitcoin mining from new hydropower on the island.

Why Greenland’s power economic system and geopolitics matter for large-scale Bitcoin mining

Nevertheless, if Greenland have been to return beneath US jurisdiction and be handled as an power enhancement zone reasonably than a small, fragmented energy market, the renewable power cap essential for mining would shift from 1GW-class hydropower tenders to a deal with wind as nicely.

Based on a methods research printed in power The technical potential of Greenland’s onshore wind energy, as listed by ScienceDirect, is roughly 333 GW, which might generate roughly 1,487 TWh per 12 months, assuming 20% ​​of Greenland’s ice-free space is offered.

This corresponds to a mean energy era of roughly 170 GW on an power foundation.

Manufacturing volumes fluctuate, requiring transmission, overbuilding, discount, storage, and fixing to accommodate massive hundreds 24/7.

Changing this energy-only cap to hashrate exhibits how far the “Trump’s Greenland mine” narrative can theoretically be pushed.

At 15-22 J/TH with a PUE of round 1.1, if the miners have been in a position to take in the typical output as a versatile load, the typical energy era of 170 GW would imply a hashing capability of round 7.0-10.4 ZH/s, which is considerably greater than at this time’s networks.

With the present hashrate round 1 ZH/s, buying sufficient mining machines to facilitate such a construct would primarily be a theoretical train of potential forward-looking limitations.

Additionally, 10 ZH/s just isn’t a “24/7 secure baseload” except you add massive sends, overbuilds, reductions, storage/fixing (or settle for downtime/fluctuating operations). This can be a ceiling primarily based on common wind power absorption, reasonably than offering assured energy each hour.

But, a tough linear extrapolation of the identical research’s land availability assumptions from 20% to 100% would suggest roughly 7,435 TWh (common roughly 848 GW) per 12 months, or roughly 34.8 to 51.7 ZH/s.

This can be a cap primarily based on physics and mapping, not a building plan that takes into consideration siting, allowing, ports, roads, and HVDC necessities.

Based on IRENA, the worldwide common put in value for brand spanking new onshore wind energy in 2023 was roughly $1,154 per kW.

This leaves 333 GW of generators alone price about $384 billion, excluding insurance coverage, transmission, and infrastructure within the Arctic.

OneMiners is itemizing the Antminer S21 XP Hyd at 473 TH/s for $6,799. To make the most of 333 GW, roughly 21,141,650 miners can be required, which might be roughly $143 billion.

Nevertheless, that is simply the price of buying the ASIC. This doesn’t embody all-important prices similar to transportation, customs/VAT, spares, racks/PSUs/networks, buildings, cooling/hydro loops, commissioning, and so on., which might run into the tens of thousands and thousands of models.

All instructed, an funding of about $427 billion would give the Greenland-based miner sufficient renewable energy-derived hashing energy to regulate the $1.8 trillion Bitcoin community by greater than 10 instances, assuming the {hardware} is offered (which it is not). Or about $55 billion equal to at this time’s community hash price (not merely 1/tenth, attributable to scaling).

These are all “again of the envelope” numbers with many caveats and assumptions, however the actuality is that there’s sufficient unused power in Greenland to energy the Bitcoin community many instances over. With Starlink, you can most likely construct a serious AI information middle as nicely.