Iris Energy Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) paid significantly less for electricity in August 2023 as it benefitted from free electricity at its Childress site in Texas.
The Australia-based, US-listed bitcoin mining data centre company said in a statement that it mined 410 bitcoins in August 2023, down from 423 in July, generating US$11.46 million in revenues for an average of US$27,937 per bitcoin.
Electricity costs totalled US$4.34 million, down from $6.6 million in July, equating to US$10,586 per bitcoin, compared to US$15,494 per bitcoin the previous month.
Iris said Childress operated at negative realized electricity costs of approximately US$0.08/kWh, adding that it was effectively paid about $28,000 per bitcoin to take power at Childress and generated a further roughly $28,000 per bitcoin in mining revenue.
“The company was able to capitalize on heightened energy market volatility, dynamically trading Bitcoin mining profitability against electricity market pricing to drive down net electricity costs,” Iris said.
It said 580MW of additional power remains available at Childress for expansion.
The company said its lower average operating hash rate of 5,593 PH/s versus 5,562 PH/s in July and bitcoin mined were primarily attributable to energy market trading activities at Childress.
This was more than offset by roughly $2.3 million of power sales and was the primary driver behind the aggregate decrease in electricity costs and in average electricity costs per bitcoin across all sites.
Meanwhile, Iris said development works have continued across additional sites in Canada, the US, and Asia-Pacific, which have the potential to support up to an additional greater than 1GW of aggregate capacity that can power growth beyond its 760MW of announced capacity.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com