Core Scientific Holding Co. , a Bellevue, Washington-based blockchain infrastructure and digital asset mining firm, on Oct. 7 announced an agreement with the City of Denton, and an affiliate of Tenaska Energy Inc. to develop a 300 megawatt blockchain data center in Denton, using emissions-free power supplemented by renewable energy credits. When completed, the new Denton data center will increase the company’s total power capacity to more than 800MW while remaining 100% net carbon-neutral, according to a Core Scientific news release.
“Denton represents our first blockchain data center in Texas and gives us another opportunity to demonstrate our team’s ability to scale rapidly to meet the increasing demand for secure blockchain infrastructure hosting services and digital asset mining,” said Mike Levitt, Chief Executive Officer of Core Scientific. “We believe that blockchain technology will play an increasingly important role in global commerce and serve as an important driver of emission-free energy demand. We are grateful to Mayor Hudspeth, the Denton City Council and Tenaska for their support and forward-looking embrace of this project. The Core Scientific team looks forward to building a strong, long-term relationship with members of the Denton community while continuing to create value for all of our stakeholders.”
“We are honored to have been selected as the site of Core Scientific’s first blockchain data center in Texas,” said Denton Mayor Gerard Hudspeth. “The company’s commitment to 100% net carbon-neutral operations aligns well with the goals of the Denton Renewable Resource Plan and the long-term interests of our citizens. The economic benefits of this project to our community will be realized for many years to come and we look forward to working with Core Scientific as part of this rapidly-growing industry.”
Core Scientific’s expansion into Texas is part of a development collaboration with Tenaska, a private, independent energy company. Tenaska affiliates will build the high voltage interconnection and transformation equipment, as well as serve as the energy advisor for the life of the transaction, helping to optimize the energy and ancillary service.
“Core Scientific’s scale and professionalism distinguish it in the blockchain infrastructure industry,” said Chris Hemschot, Director, Origination, Tenaska. “Recognizing the need to interconnect quickly and efficiently to the ERCOT grid makes this a great fit for Tenaska’s engineering and power optimization teams. We look forward to providing development and power management services for Core Scientific’s Denton blockchain data center and optimizing its interruptible load to help stabilize the power grid.”
Core Scientific owns and operates data centers in North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia. A new data center in North Dakota is scheduled to begin operation in the fourth calendar quarter of 2021.