Lent Hill AG-GRID DIGITAL
Lent Hill Ag-Grid Digital is the first dairy biogas project to produce electricity for crypto mining in the United States. Ag-Grid’s first crypto mining project is directly powered by electricity produced from co-digestion of cow manure and food waste at Lent Hill Ag-Grid in New York state. This project demonstrates that base load power from biogas produced in a co-digestion facility can support a 1 MW crypto mining operation. The project sets the stage for future distributed electricity generation to power distributed crypto and/or artificial intelligence (AI) data mining facilities. The project is behind the meter, demonstrating how this and similar future projects can reduce the load of AI on our nation’s power grid infrastructure. Lent Hill Ag-Grid Digital is an environmentally conscious and technology-forward operation that is carbon negative.
Date Operational
October 2024
Project Partnership
Ag-Grid partnered with Lent Hill Dairy Farm to form the special-purpose company Lent Hill Ag-Grid Digital LLC (LHAG Digital), which owns and operates the 1 MW data mining unit and off-takes the electricity from Lent Hill Ag-Grid’s anaerobic digesters and combined heat and power (CHP) system.
Farm Team
The farm is owned and operated by Paul Wolcott. A graduate of Cornell University, Paul has promoted best farming practices and renewable energy while installing 13 windmills and an anaerobic digester.
Project Description
- FOOD WASTE – The digesters recycle 45,000 gallons of food waste per day.
- MANURE – The digesters recycle manure from 4,000 cows.
- ENERGY – The 1 MW engine generates 8 million kW hours per year of clean, renewable energy. The electricity is used to power crypto mining units housed in a container.
Impact on the Community and the Environment
Some of the excess electricity produced by Lent Hill Ag-Grid is being used to directly power a crypto mining unit and the fans that keep the mining container cool. The container houses 400 crypto miners and can ramp the power up and down along with the power production.
Lent Hill Ag-Grid digesters are currently producing enough biogas to provide 1.5 MW of power. Lent Hill Ag-Grid is limited to exporting only 300 KW to the power grid. By directing the excess power to crypto mining, we are able to reduce the biogas going to the flare. We expect to add another engine to increase electricity production and maximize behind-the-meter electricity utilization.
Renewable energy facilities like Lent Hill Ag-Grid Digital can not only mitigate methane gas emissions from dairy farms but also mitigate the rapidly escalating electricity demand from AI and crypto mining. Distributed renewable energy facilities like Lent Hill Ag-Grid Digital also can help reduce the additional infrastructure costs anticipated for electricity transmission and distribution as well as data distribution, especially in rural areas.
