What a crypto mining center could mean for Starkville residents

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) – A crypto mining center could be coming to the city of Starkville.

The facility would be built next door to the electrical substation on Industrial Park Road. It would consume up to 30 megawatts of electricity. That is equivalent to enough electricity to power thousands of homes.

“From a customer standpoint, that’s very favorable.” Starkville Utilities Director Edward Kemp said. “You have a consistent load that is kind of homogenous across the system. There’s not a lot of fluctuations on and off.”

Kemp and other city officials agree that the load is good for ratepayers and could help offset future rate increases.

This proposed crypto mining center is still in the early stages. It is still being reviewed, and it could be a few months before there is an update.

One Starkville resident said he is cautiously optimistic.

“I am still concerned about the environment, so hopefully with the data center coming in, it won’t cause any impacts on society,” Hunter Beach said.

Kemp said the company is committed to follow all noise ordinances for those concerned about extra noise.

Mayor Lynn Spruill added that she traveled to another crypto mining facility and was impressed.

“It was surprisingly quiet,” she said. “It was not offensive in its look. It’s like a very large, gray box that sits on a piece of property that has a fence around it, and so it was mostly innocuous by my description.”