Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Please disable your ad blocker, whitelist our site, or purchase a subscription
Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low near 40F. Winds light and variable..
Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low near 40F. Winds light and variable.
Updated: November 23, 2022 @ 3:24 pm
A doorway view shows the interior of the cryptocurency units at the mining site off Old Paris Murray Road near Highway 641 north of Paris. The shelves at the right will hold computer servers doing the mining itself.
A doorway view shows the interior of the cryptocurency units at the mining site off Old Paris Murray Road near Highway 641 north of Paris. The shelves at the right will hold computer servers doing the mining itself.
A cryptocurrency mine that’s under construction on Highway 641 north of Paris is still in progress despite the project hitting a few snags along the way, according to an update at Tuesday’s Paris Board of Public Utilities meeting.
Terry Wimberley, BPU president/CEO, told the board while progress at the site has been start-and-stop in the last few months, and the people in charge of the project continue to change, work has been moving forward.
In an update to the board during his president’s report, Wimberley gave the board its first look at the construction of the site.
“The perimeter of the footprint of the base of the campus is made up of 20-foot and 40-foot containers that will be filled up with, basically, (computer) servers that run 24/7,” Wimberley said. “So our staff has built basically a circuit into that.”
The site includes several pad-mounted transformers that can currently supply those servers with the 6 megawatts of electric load needed to run them. The site is now awaiting inspections, a contract signature and a security deposit before the connection is switched on.
Plans are for the site to ultimately receive 15 megawatts of power.
Work at the site ceased about two months ago, after the cryptocurrency market took a nose dive. At the same time, an investor group, separate from the group that had initially negotiated the power contract, stepped in and took over responsibility for payments. Another work stoppage at the site followed cryptocurrency company FTX filing for bankruptcy earlier this month. Work is now expected to resume either under the first investment group or another, Wimberley said. He stressed to the board that the BPU had been paid in advance for all of the work it had done at the site, and had no unpaid expenditures related to the site.
Wimberley has said there will be no issue with the BPU being able to provide enough power for the cryptocurrency project.
In other business, the board:
• Approved a consulting service for the DC fast charger that will be installed in downtown Paris and heard an update on that project.
The board authorized an agreement between the BPU and Seven States Power Corp., a nonprofit cooperative made up of Local Power Companies in Tennessee. Wimberley said the BPU was a member of the cooperative, and he himself is a Seven States board member.
The charger will be located between Uncle Billy’s restaurant and fountain park in the downtown area. Its placement is part of a grant that seeks to put fast-charging stations every 50 miles along major highways running north and south, including Highway 641 and Highway 79.
Its $300,000 cost will largely be borne with an 80/20 state matching grant. One such station was already active in Weakley County, Wimberley said, although it wasn’t seeing much business at the moment.
Plans are underway to install fast charging stations at Joe Mahan Ford and Peppers Automotive, he said.
• Approved a bid for a relay control house at the renovations going on at Paris Landing substation.
The board accepted a $265,575 bid from KVA Inc. of Greer, S.C. Also bidding was Birmingham Control Systems, Electric Power Products and VFP, Inc./SEL.
The new control house is expected to be delivered in 26-28 weeks.
• Approved a matching grant program for property conservation.
The board approved a motion to participate in the Public Entities Partners’ Property Conservation Matching Grant Program.
The program, which the board has approved in previous years, helps in loss prevention and reduction, Wimberley said.
Your comment has been submitted.
Reported
There was a problem reporting this.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.
Please disable your ad blocker, whitelist our site, or purchase a subscription
How To Make Huge Profits In A Short Time With CryptoGet detailed training system that shows an absolute beginner (without any skill) how to make huge profits in a short time with crypto.
Crypto + NFT Quick Start CourseThe #1 course for profit in the Crypto & NFT world - You will discover the secrets that 99% of people don’t know yet
