Ep. 364: Bitcoin mining: The British Columbia advantage

Guest: Brian Fehr

If only W.A.C. Bennett was alive to see the benefits of his prescient insight into the need for clean, renewable and sustainable energy.

Back in the 1950s, then-Premier Bennett attempted to get BC Electric to build a hydroelectric dam in British Columbia because he didn’t want the province to be held hostage to the Columbia River treaty. BC Electric balked at the idea, so the most free enterprise Premier in BC did the unexpected – he nationalized the power company and set out to build dams that would supply electricity that would spur economic growth.

Bennett Dam opened in 1968. Over the past 53 years, the benefits of clean, reliable and affordable energy have helped to power the province’s economy. Bennett knew that electricity was the oxygen of the modern economy. Little did he know, clean, renewable energy would become BC’s advantage in the world of bitcoin mining.

Brian Fehr, a BC innovator who is always on the lookout for opportunities in rural and sometimes remote areas, put two and two together and developed a plan that benefits First Nations and has attracted massive investment for Australian bitcoin mining company Iris Energy.

Weeks ago, the partnership officially launched its first of five bitcoin mining centres in BC. The reason BC, says Iris Energy CEO Jason Conroy, is clean, sustainable and reliable energy which is exactly what the bitcoin sector needs.

We invited Brian Fehr to join us for a Conversation That Matters about the electrifying and powerful partnership he has generated that is benefitting BC and rural communities.