BILLINGS — Hardin coal energy could end up providing power to a digital industry that sprang from cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
The Billings Gazette reported Wednesday that data processing and blockchain interests are the latest entities to court the ailing Hardin Generating Station, a 109-megawatt coal-fired power plant that is seeking a buyer to avoid closure.
Pam Bucy, an attorney representing the Hardin plant’s owners, said a dozen industry investors and businesses recently met with plant representatives.
She said it’s too early in the process to name any of the interested companies, but the idea of a blockchain operation taking on its own power plant would be a notable step in the industry’s growth.
Blockchain is the system that was invented to support bitcoin, but the technology is used to keep the books on other cryptocurrencies.