The goal was to make Norway attractive for the location of large data centers, also for international players. In the regulations, no distinction is made between data storage, processing or cryptomining, which in practice is blockchain processing. We are now seeing results of this change; some international players have established themselves and new ones are on the way.
Messages of concern and criticism that this is the wrong use of our energy production are far too vague. Cryptocurrency mining also leads to an explosive increase in blockchain processing, a technology the market welcomes for, among other things, the secure transaction of documents within finance, justice, health and most other sectors, as well as other sectors where security and traceability are a point. Cryptocurrency is a variant of this technology, which has received a disproportionate amount of publicity, compared to socially beneficial and industrial exploitation of blockchain technology. Today’s cryptocurrency must also be said to be at the pioneer stage and will probably over time get a changed status with public regulation, and in that way develop from a misperceived “problem area” into a common good.
Ensuring that speculators are taxed for their profits is a completely different matter from reasonable electricity to data centers and should, for example, be regulated by the authority in the country where the speculator is based and not where the service is produced and not directly at the data centre.
The construction of data centers will also entail large investments that bring about local ripple effects such as jobs linked to construction activities and operations, both temporary and permanent. These centers are to be built close to the production of the electricity and thus these extensions will greatly benefit the municipality of Norway.
Imagine the idea that the recently introduced reduction in electricity tax is abolished or changed: In that case, the same international investors will disappear to neighboring countries such as Sweden. Should we really let these customers cross the border, and then export our own electricity there? There will be no tax dollars, permanent jobs or development within one of the most forward-looking industries, which we will need anyway.
Last but not least, per To date, there is no other power-intensive industry that wants to establish itself in Norway and that can make use of the surplus flow that Norway has available. It is a good idea to develop and facilitate the data center industry so that Norwegian-produced electricity creates new jobs in Norway.Sustainable business in the rural areas, with associated jobs and tax revenues, will thus mean that the “problem child” cryptocurrency, viewed in isolation, will sooner or later also be perceived as student income. The Internet wasn’t a flop either, even though it was claimed to be in 1996.
Some useful posts on the matter:
