An underground mining farm, illegally connected to the Mosoblenergo networks, was identified in the Moscow region. The press service of the company announced this on Thursday, December 9.
“Law-abiding consumers suffer from the actions of miners. Illegal connection to power grids for the production of cryptocurrency tenfold increases the load on energy equipment, which affects the quality and reliability of power supply to residents, “- quoted by the online publication Podmoskovye Segodnya, Deputy General Director of the company for interaction with authorities and security Alexei Kalmykov.
According to him, the volume of illegally consumed electricity to power computer equipment amounted to more than 9.5 million rubles.
A criminal case was initiated under Art. 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Theft”), according to the website kp.ru.
Earlier that day, Mikhail Khardikov, head of the energy business at En +, told Izvestia that the growth in electricity consumption by miners disguised as the population in 2021 in the country as a whole could be more than 20%.
At the same time, the growth of household energy consumption in the country exceeds all reasonable limits and in some regions can reach 250%, said Igor Runets, CEO of Bitriver (the largest operator of data centers for mining in Russia).
Shadow miners mean people who, without registering their business, install energy-intensive equipment for mining cryptocurrency in residential premises and garages. Today they consume 500-700 MW, and their number may be 50-100 thousand people.
As a result, due to the rapid growth of shadow mining of cryptocurrency, which creates an excessive load on the country’s energy system and is not regulated by legislation, in the coming years, Russians may face massive power outages.
The Ministry of Energy told Izvestia that regions with the lowest electricity tariffs are attractive for miners, which may cause overloads in the power grids, accidents and threats to the power system.
Mining should be recognized as an entrepreneurial activity, according to the Ministry of Energy. As previously stated by representatives of the ministry, the regulation of the sphere should assume that at the stage of connection to the power system, it is necessary to declare the nature of the consumed load – for business or personal consumption.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
