Mechanical Technology (MTI) and Soluna Computing (SCI) have announced that they have signed a definitive agreement where MTI will acquire SCI. Soluna will buy excess energy from wind and solar farms to power data centres specialising in performing batchable computing, such as cryptocurrency mining. The transaction will launch the company into the new and rapidly growing green sector within the power-hungry data centre industry. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will be renamed Soluna Holdings.
Many renewable energy producers lose up to 30 per cent of the energy they could produce because the power grid is not flexible enough to absorb it. Soluna will offer on-site data centres that are modular and capable of scaling up to buy every excess megawatt of renewable energy.
The company develops scalable data centres from concept to commercial operation that can buy excess energy from solar and wind farms with a low-risk, low-friction process that takes as little as six months. The rapid implementation allows them to scale their approach globally from megawatts to gigawatts. The combined company will have a development pipeline of 350MW, with 50MW expected to be operational by the end of 2021 and another 50MW by the end of the second quarter of 2022. By the end of 2022, they expect to have two-thirds of their current pipeline energised and operational.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts wind and solar production will produce 225 terawatt-hours (TWh) of wasted power by 2030. That’s more than the 205 TWh of electricity consumed by all data centres in 2018. The surging growth in data centres and their corresponding demand for power comes as major institutional investors, governments and corporate ESG goals drive greater reliance on renewable energy.
“Our company will buy every megawatt of excess energy from wind and solar farms and convert it to revenue for the owners of these facilities,” John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna Computing, said. “With this simple solution to one of asset owners’ biggest operational challenges, we plan to more than double our pipeline by the end of 2022 to more than 700 MW.”
This transaction provides the combined companies with greater access to capital markets and allows them to scale their renewable energy-powered data centre solution more quickly and efficiently.
“With the surge of demand for batchable computing on the horizon, this transaction puts MTI in a strong position to provide significant value for investors,” Michael Toporek, CEO of MTI, said. “The future of computing is renewable energy, and this acquisition demonstrates my belief in both the sustainability and the profitability of this new frontier.”
