Bitcoin mining profitability in the Nordics flip to negative Nov. 21

Bitcoin mining profitability rates plunge in Finland as the 1.6-GW Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) nuclear power plant had an automatic shutdown Nov. 19 causing the Finnish spot power price to spike, S&P Global Commodity Insights Renewable Bitcoin Quarq Spreads data showed.

The outage resulted in the baseload day-ahead price in Finland to settle at Eur287.87/MWh ($315/MWh) for Nov. 21, the highest across Europe with hour 16 settling at Eur777/MWh, according to Epex spot data.

In Sweden SE1 and Norway NO4 bitcoin mining, profitability flipped into out of the money as colder weather and increase in power demand kept power prices up amid lower wind generation. Lower wind output was registered across the Nordics but also lower hydro power output in the north of Sweden, the NVE weekly report showed.

EnergyDanmark report shows that precipitations are expected below average in the region which provides a bullish sentiment for the Nordic power market, limiting the profitability rate for bitcoin miners in the region. Meanwhile, temperature levels over the next 10 days are expected to gradually decline up to 5 degrees below normal for the weekend Nov. 25-26, according to the report.

The total hydro reservoir levels for Norway, Sweden and Finland fell to 75.5% for the week 46, down from 78.5%, NordPool system data showed. Platts assessed the daily Nordic hydro guarantees of origin certificates for the current vintage year at Eur3.67/MWh Nov. 21, down from Eur3.76/MWh. Platts is part of S&P Global.

Spanish baseload day-ahead power price swung into a discount to both France and Germany of almost Eur80/MWh for delivery Nov. 22, as Spanish wind power generation resulted in 50% of the load factor at almost 14 GW. Meanwhile, wind power generation is set to pick up in Germany for Nov. 23 and Nov. 24 to around 43 GW, a 67% of the load factor.

Wind power generation in France is registered to double Nov. 24 and 25 to 8.5 GW and 7.8 GW, respectively, Spotrenewables data showed. Platts assessed the daily European wind guarantees of origin current year vintage at Eur3.65/MWh, down from Eur3.74/MWh.

Platts assessed the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index at 386.85 MWh Nov. 21, meanwhile global network hashrate reached all time high.