US independent power producer Talen Energy has acquired full ownership of Nautilus Cryptomine, a 200MW Bitcoin mining facility in Berwick, Pennsylvania, from TeraWulf.
Under the transaction terms, Talen acquired TeraWulf’s 25 percent interest in Nautilus and obtained full control of the legacy Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for $85 million cash, along with select physical assets used in the Bitcoin mining operation. The total transaction value was valued at $92 million.
Following the acquisition, Talen now holds a 100 percent share in Nautilus.
Cole Muller, executive vice president of strategic ventures, commented on the deal, stating: “The transaction allows Talen the ability to reset a legacy below-market Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and provides us with increased flexibility as we explore strategic alternatives in order to maximize the value per megawatt for our Susquehanna nuclear generation facility.”
The Nautilus facility is the first cryptomining operation directly supplied with on-site nuclear energy. The project is adjacent to the 2.5GW Susquehanna nuclear plant.
Talen first announced plans to develop data centers at the plant in July 2021, breaking ground on a hyperscale facility and separate cryptomine facility early last year.
In March, Talen sold its neighboring 960MW Cumulus data center campus and surrounding land to AWS for a reported $650 million. Talen will supply AWS with energy via a 10-year PPA from the Susquehanna site as part of the deal.
The deal comes after Talen announced it was looking to pivot away from the crypto mining sector and into the data center sector, and it was looking for potential buyers for the Nautilus facility.
TeraWulf develops, owns, and operates data center infrastructure in the United States, specifically designed for Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing. The company intends to reinvest the capital from the transaction into the construction of the 20MW CB-1 facility at Lake Mariner, which is designed for hosting HPC/AI data centers.
Paul Prager, chief executive officer of TeraWulf commented on the deal, stating that: “Monetizing our interest in Nautilus ahead of the 2027 expiration of the highly advantageous 2¢/kWh power contract allows us to capture a significant premium for our investment, provide significant capital to invest into our HPC/AI infrastructure and capitalize on our favorably structured miner purchase agreement to upgrade our mining fleet at a discount to the current market price.”
