Key Points
- Canaan Inc. has secured a 4.5-megawatt contract to deploy its Avalon A1566HA hydro-cooled mining servers for real-time grid balancing in Japan.
- The Avalon servers, which will be operational by the end of 2025, will help manage load fluctuations for a regional utility in Japan.
Canaan Inc., a leading manufacturer of Bitcoin mining hardware, announced on October 30 that it had signed a contract to deploy its Avalon A1566HA hydro-cooled mining servers in Japan. The 4.5-megawatt sales contract is aimed at providing real-time grid balancing.
The company was contracted by an electrical engineering solutions provider to operate the mining servers. These servers will assist in managing load fluctuations at a facility led by a notable Japanese utility. The deployment process is expected to commence before the end of 2025.
How the Grid Balancing Technology Works
The Avalon servers are designed to operate continuously through controlled overclocking and underclocking, thereby responding to fluctuations in the grid. Each unit delivers between 480 to 500 terahashes per second, with a power consumption of 8,064 watts, and operates at an efficiency of 16.8 joules per terahash.
Canaan’s intelligent control chip allows the system to adjust frequency, voltage, and hashrate using feedback algorithms. This enables the mining equipment to function as a digital load balancer.
Nangeng Zhang, the chairman and CEO of Canaan, highlighted that the project builds on a similar initiative that the company supported in the Netherlands last year. Zhang pointed out that residential power consumption, AI computing, and high-density data centers are exerting increasing pressure on national power systems across Asia, North America, and Europe.
Japan’s Cryptocurrency Regulatory Context
This initiative is in line with the proposed changes to Japan’s digital asset regulations. Lawmakers are contemplating measures to categorize crypto assets as financial products under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.
Other suggested reforms include introducing a flat 20% tax on crypto gains, expanding bank participation in digital-asset services, and authorizing regulated financial institutions to directly hold crypto assets. Financial institutions are preparing for these changes. For instance, the launch of TIS’s token platform allows Japanese banks to issue stablecoins and security tokens.
The deployment also builds on Canaan’s other energy-focused initiatives, such as the flared gas project in Calgary, which converts waste natural gas into electricity for mining operations. This comes as crypto mining companies face increasing competition from AI infrastructure, with companies like Galaxy Digital converting mining facilities to AI data centers.
