Discuss of the US shopping for Greenland is returning to Washington, and miners are pursuing energy tasks on the island.
In line with 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 undertaking.
How Greenland’s hydropower interprets into precise Bitcoin mining capability
In line with 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 vegetation for mapped industrial use, Tasselsiak (website 07.e) and Tarsaltuap Tasselsua (website 06.g).
Collectively, the 2 websites will be capable of generate greater than 9,500 gigawatt hours of electrical energy yearly.
Mining calculations are straightforward.
In line with 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.
| Facility output (MW) | Hashrate restrict (EH/s) @ 17.5 J/TH, PUE 1.1 |
|---|---|
| 5 | 0.26 |
| twenty 5 | 1.30 |
| 50 | 2.60 |
| 100 | 5.19 |
Greenland’s put in base is way smaller than the bid’s ambitions.
Nukissiorfiit’s annual report experiences that the corporate’s complete system hydropower capability is roughly 91.3 MW, with a median electrical energy gross sales value 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 business.
Massive constructions due to this fact depend on industrial energy buy agreements or new-generation behind-the-meter provides, quite than buying energy like common clients.
The dearth of a nationwide energy grid narrows the trail to scale.
In line with Trapp Greenland, energy vegetation sometimes serve cities and settlements as native methods with restricted interconnections.
This pushes the sooner idea of “stranded” or surplus vitality in the direction of coexisting versatile masses in a given plant.
In line with Greenland Overview, Greenland’s report discusses using surplus vitality with a view to decreasing vitality prices.
If you happen to can mixture 5 to 25 megawatts behind the meter close to your current generator, the higher restrict could 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 international community share.
The following tier is Nuuk’s primary hydroelectric energy station.
Increasing Bitcoin mining in Greenland: From surplus energy testing to grid-level enlargement
Buxefjord is deliberate to increase from 45 MW to 121 MW, with building beginning in 2026 and commissioning focused for 2032, Nunagreen mentioned.
The European Funding Financial institution’s undertaking 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 could 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 are usually not absorbed by Nuuk’s demand progress and electrification plans.
Two bids put Greenland within the dialogue for gigawatts.
Greater than 9,500 GWh per yr equates to roughly 1.08 gigawatts of common energy when totally 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).
In line with minerstat, the monitoring website 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 totally utilized 1.08 GW mine would characterize roughly 4-6% of as we speak’s community hash price, a share that shrinks as the worldwide hash price grows.
Might capital related to President Trump look to Greenland’s surplus vitality to increase 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 traders that included Donald Trump Jr., however Hut 8 retained an 80% stake.
In line with 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 gear may doubtlessly energy a Bitcoin-sized fleet in the USA a number of occasions if totally utilized.
Even in a “what if” sovereignty situation, the constraints stay sensible.
Industrial hydropower requires multi-year building, vital logistics, and long-term water withdrawals, and mines require resilient knowledge hyperlinks, spare components, 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 isn’t resolved.
Clear, secure megawatts additionally face competitors from different masses.
The Worldwide Power Company has warned that AI may improve demand for electrical energy from knowledge facilities, elevating the chance price of dedicating long-term renewable vitality output to mining.
Diplomacy will form funding situations primarily based on the “Trump Greenland Mine” argument.
In line with Reuters, European officers careworn that Greenland’s standing relies 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 vitality financial system and geopolitics matter for large-scale Bitcoin mining
Nonetheless, if Greenland have been to return beneath US jurisdiction and be handled as an vitality enhancement zone quite than a small, fragmented energy market, the renewable vitality cap vital for mining would shift from 1GW-class hydropower tenders to a deal with wind as effectively.
In line with a methods research revealed in vitality 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 yr, assuming 20% of Greenland’s ice-free space is offered.
This corresponds to a median energy era of roughly 170 GW on an vitality foundation.
Manufacturing volumes fluctuate, requiring transmission, overbuilding, discount, storage, and fixing to accommodate massive masses 24/7.
Changing this energy-only cap to hashrate reveals 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 soak up 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 increased than as we speak’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 isn’t a “24/7 secure baseload” until you add massive sends, overbuilds, reductions, storage/fixing (or settle for downtime/fluctuating operations). This can be a ceiling primarily based on common wind vitality absorption, quite 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 yr, 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.
In line with IRENA, the worldwide common put in price for brand new onshore wind energy in 2023 was roughly $1,154 per kW.
This leaves 333 GW of generators alone value 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 could be required, which might be roughly $143 billion.
Nonetheless, that is simply the price of buying the ASIC. This doesn’t embrace all-important prices corresponding to transportation, customs/VAT, spares, racks/PSUs/networks, buildings, cooling/hydro loops, commissioning, and many others., which might run into the tens of thousands and thousands of items.
All instructed, an funding of about $427 billion would give the Greenland-based miner sufficient renewable energy-derived hashing energy to manage the $1.8 trillion Bitcoin community by greater than 10 occasions, assuming the {hardware} is offered (which it is not). Or about $55 billion equal to as we speak’s community hash price (not merely 1/tenth, as a result of scaling).
These are all “again of the envelope” numbers with many caveats and assumptions, however the actuality is that there’s sufficient unused vitality in Greenland to energy the Bitcoin community many occasions over. With Starlink, you possibly can most likely construct a serious AI knowledge heart as effectively.