NEW YORK, Aug. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/
-- Mechanical Technology, Inc ("MTI") (NASDAQ: MKTY)
and Soluna Computing, Inc. ("SCI") today announced that they have
signed a definitive agreement whereby MTI will acquire SCI. Soluna
will buy excess energy from wind and solar farms to power data
centers specializing in performing batchable computing, such as
cryptocurrency mining. The transaction will launch Soluna into the
new and rapidly growing "green" sector within the power-hungry data
center industry. Upon closing of the transaction, the combined
company will be renamed Soluna Holdings ("Soluna" or "the
company").
Many renewable energy producers lose up to 30 percent of the
energy they could produce because the power grid is not flexible
enough to absorb it. Soluna will offer on-site data centers that
are modular and capable of scaling up to buy every excess megawatt
of renewable energy.
Soluna develops scalable data centers from concept to commercial
operation that can buy excess energy from solar and wind farms with
a low-risk, low-friction process that takes as little as six
months. Rapid implementation allows Soluna to scale its approach
globally from megawatts to gigawatts.
The combined company will have a development pipeline of 350MW,
with 50MW expected to be operational by the end of 2021 and another
50MW by the end of the second quarter of 2022. By the end of 2022,
Soluna expects to have two-thirds of its current pipeline energized
and operational.
Meeting An Exploding Market
Soluna's solution meets the exploding demand for computing
power, particularly forms of computing that are "batchable," which
can be interrupted. Soluna can offer customers batchable computing
with rates as low as 25% of what they pay current service providers
such as AWS. Batchable computing is a method of running
high-volume, repetitive data processes. Batchable computing data
centers require far less expensive infrastructure redundancies
compared to data centers serving customers that must be always on.
The demand for batchable computing – such as cryptocurrency mining,
scientific computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning
– now collectively represents $60B a
year, 19 percent of the entire data center sector.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts wind and solar
production will produce 225 terawatt-hours (TWh) of wasted power by
2030. That's more than the 205 TWh of electricity consumed by
all data centers in 2018. The surging growth in data
centers and their corresponding demand for power comes as major
institutional investors, governments and corporate ESG goals drive
greater reliance on renewable energy.
"Our company will buy every megawatt of excess energy from wind
and solar farms and convert it to revenue for the owners of these
facilities," said Soluna Computing CEO John
Belizaire. "With this simple solution to one of asset
owners' biggest operational challenges, we plan to more than double
our pipeline by the end of 2022 to more than 700 MW."
This transaction provides the combined companies with greater
access to capital markets and allows them to scale their renewable
energy-powered data center solution more quickly and
efficiently.
Soluna Holdings will absorb all SCI assets, as well as those of
MTI subsidiary EcoChain, bringing the combined total to 350MW, but
it does not include the Harmattan Wind farm in Morocco, which is an asset of Harmattan
Energy, Ltd. (formerly called Soluna Technologies, Ltd.). Soluna
Holdings will also directly retain Soluna's top-tier technical
team, which brings expertise in project development, energy
markets, project finance and computing technology.
This transaction places the combined company into the
cryptocurrency mining industry's large scale peer group, based on
its development pipeline.
"We're excited about this acquisition and the opportunities it
brings for Soluna to continue helping renewable power producers
sell every megawatt of energy," said John
Belizaire, Soluna Computing CEO. "What we're offering now
will be an industry standard within three years. It's up to the
first movers in the power business to seize this revenue
advantage."
"With the surge of demand for batchable computing on the
horizon, this transaction puts MTI in a strong position to provide
significant value for investors," said Michael Toporek, MTI CEO. "The future of
computing is renewable energy, and this acquisition demonstrates my
belief in both the sustainability and the profitability of this new
frontier."
About Soluna Computing
Soluna's scalable, on-demand data centers buy every excess
megawatt from renewable energy projects, increasing project revenue
while eliminating wasted energy. Implementing Soluna data centers
is a low-risk, low-friction process due to the company's four
pillars of expertise: Project development, energy markets, project
finance and computing technology. Soluna has molded this unique
expertise into a proven project finance structure and
revenue-generating solution. For more information, please visit
www.SolunaComputing.com.
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SOURCE Soluna Computing, Inc.