Data center operator Soluna has secured $30 million in funding to expand its data center in Texas.
The investment from Spring Lane Capital will fund the company’s 48MW expansion, named Dorothy 2.
Soluna said the financing will accommodate approximately 12,700 Bitcoin mining rigs, each with a power consumption of around 3.5kW, totaling 48MW.
Soluna has an existing facility on the site in West Texas, dubbed Dorothy 1, and aims to have completed the second facility by the end of 2024. The company traditionally names its data centers after women scientists. The Dorothy name is derived from Dorothy Vaughan, an African American mathematician who worked for NASA.
Spring Lane Capital is also set to provide $1 million in development expenditure financing for long-term equipment purchases.
“Spring Lane Capital has proven to be the company’s most strategic partner. We are honored to partner with them again on Project Dorothy 2. This continues our momentum of bringing more projects to shovel-ready status and beyond as we grow our assets under management,” said John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna.
He added: “The innovative financing approach and robust project design underscore Soluna’s commitment to expanding its footprint in the renewable energy sector and advancing the scale of its Bitcoin Hosting services.”
Soluna added the remaining 2MW of the site’s wind power will be reserved for the company’s planned Helix AI data center.
Soluna signs PPA with EDF Renewables
Soluna has also signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with French utility firm EDF Renewables and Abu Dhabi energy firm Masdar for its planned Project Kati facility.
Project Kati is Soluna’s second data center project, also located in Texas, and is expected to host 166MW of IT capacity when complete.
The company said the energy will be procured from a wind facility owned by EDF Renewables and Masdar.
John Belizaire said: “This milestone demonstrates our growth and momentum in shovel-ready projects and highlights our commitment to sustainable energy solutions. We are excited about the opportunities this project presents, not only in expanding our assets under management but also in contributing to advancements in AI technology.”
Soluna’s Project Kati is named after Hungarian scientist Kati Kariko, who helped to develop mRNA-based protein therapies.
Soluna is a developer, designer, and operator of digital infrastructure. The company said it uses surplus renewable energy and repurposes it for HPC, Bitcoin mining, Generative, AI, and other compute-intensive applications.
It also operates Project Sophie, a 25MW data center in Kentucky. Previously, the company also owned another facility in Kentucky and one in Washington, but exited in 2023 and 2022 respectively.
Spring Lane Capital also financed Soluna’s Dorothy 1 project. Spring Lane Capital is a US-based private equity firm, investing in energy, food, water, waste, and transportation industries.
