There has been limited demand for power from the NYSEG power grid. Greenidge operated at roughly 6% capacity in 2019 as a peaker power plant. Greenidge is changing their model to include producing power for a bitcoin mining data center which includes power as a part of their data center services to their tenants. Power generation for their own use is considered to be “behind the meter”. They plan to ramp up to 100% capacity over time as they add tenants. Using their own power for bitcoin mining allows them to keep up their power production and side-step the limitations on fossil fuel power going into the grid in the NYS Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) and its goal of net-zero carbon economy by 2050, including 70% renewable energy by 2030 and decarbonization of the electric sector by 2040.
WHAT IS NEEDED – It is time to require that Greenidge install closed-cycle cooling and for the NYS DEC to complete a full environmental impact statement (EIS). Closed-cycle cooling uses less than 1% of the water used by once-through cooling. Instead of using up to approximately 139,000,000 GPD of water from Seneca Lake, Greenidge could reduce its water use to approximately a little over 1,000,000 GPD. With dramatically reduced water use, the impacts of hot water discharges and fish kills would be greatly reduced. This is a blatant case of a corporation pulling strings to the detriment of those who live and work in the Finger Lakes and use Seneca Lake for drinking water and recreation. Greenidge and the proposed expansion, has the potential to negatively impact our community, Seneca Lake, and the multimillion-dollar tourism business for the profit of an out of state parent company (Atlas Holdings LLC, Greenwich CT).