Green Flare, a company that uses flare gas to power Bitcoin mining, has announced plans to develop a 53MW data center dedicated to Bitcoin mining in Nigeria.

The project will begin by constructing three separate mining sites in Delta State, Nigeria, which will deliver a combined total of 53MW worth of mining power. The stated goal is to have the first two sites live by the end of 2025.

“We have begun civil works on the sites (connecting to the upstream, completing right-of-ways, preparing the site, etc.), so we are well on the way,” said Green Flare co-founder, Joseph Lassen.

The deal was made possible by the signing of a Gas Connection Agreement with the Oil Mining License (OML) 30 Joint Venture - a collection of companies which include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Exploration and Production Ltd. (NNPC E&P), Shoreline Natural Resources Ltd., and Heritage Energy Operational Services Ltd. (HEOSL), and more.

Green Flare stated that it may extend the outreach of its arrangement into areas like artificial intelligence (AI) computing and high-performance data centers. Plans may also include supplying electricity to nearby rural regions in the country.

Green Flare co-founder Lassen hailed Bitcoin mining as the catalyst by which all of this is enabled. Lassen said: “Green Flare has taken a major step forward in our mission to eliminate gas flares and build stronger digital infrastructure for Nigeria. We believe in a healthier and more prosperous future. By turning wasted resources into productive assets, we are ushering in a new era of highly profitable sustainable energy transition, all enabled by Bitcoin mining."

Companies using flared gas to power servers claim the process benefits the environment because it means wasted energy is used, with the gas burned off more cleanly. The likes of Hyperscale Data, MARA, and NYDIG mine crypto through gas flare deployments.

In April, data center firm Rack Centre launched its second facility in Lagos, Nigeria, which is expected to wield an IT load of 1.5MW when finished. Other data center operators in Lagos include Equinix, Digital Realty, Nxtra, OADC, and ADC.