Crypto Miner’s AI Pivot Encounters NY Data Center Freeze
A beleaguered Finger Lakes bitcoin miner is betting that artificial intelligence can succeed where crypto can’t. New York’s crackdown on power-hungry data centers could complicate the pivot.
Greenidge Generation, the owner of a long-controversial power plant on Seneca Lake, rebranded as Vulcan Infrastructure and Power and is seeking an additional 200 megawatts from the state grid to redevelop its operation as an AI data center campus, Gothamist reported.
The company raised nearly $40 million for the attempt and says the site’s biggest competitive advantage is something increasingly scarce in the AI race: available power.
The timing, however, is awkward. Earlier this month, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the nation’s first moratorium on large-scale data centers, halting permits for facilities requiring 50 megawatts or more while the state studies their environmental and grid impacts.
The Department of Environmental Conservation said it has not received an application tied to the proposed conversion and declined to say whether Vulcan’s plans would fall under the executive order.
For Vulcan, the rebrand reflects a broader shift as AI demand helps fuel data centers into the industry’s hottest asset class, eclipsing crypto mining in some circles. Across the country, developers are racing to acquire powered industrial sites, retired power plants and utility-rich campuses that can be converted into AI facilities.
But simply swapping bitcoin servers for AI racks may not be enough to erase years of political baggage. Environmental advocates argue the proposal is less a redevelopment than a relabeling.
Greenidge has spent years battling residents and climate groups over emissions, pollution into Seneca Lake and the plant’s effect on the tourism-heavy Finger Lakes economy. Critics contend an AI data center would require similar amounts of electricity while extending the life of a fossil fuel-powered operation already drawing intense scrutiny.
The existing crypto mining operation has a capacity of 107 megawatts, but Vulcan is requesting nearly twice that amount from the grid.
Greenidge reported $15.2 million in revenue last year, down 25 percent from the prior year, underscoring why the company may be eager to attach itself to the AI boom.
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