Bitcoin miner Hut 8 signs five-year capacity contracts with Ontario grid operator for gas-fired power plants

Publicly traded Bitcoin miner Hut 8 (ticker HUT) signed five-year capacity contracts with the Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) for four of its natural gas-fired power plants in the Canadian province.

A capacity contract is an agreement between a power generator and a grid operator where generators are paid to ensure a specified amount of electrical capacity is available during a set period, typically to meet peak demand or ensure grid reliability.

Hut 8 notes that the agreement will "deliver stable cash flows" for Far North Power Corp., a joint entity formed between Hut 8 and Macquarie Equipment Finance Ltd. The contracts include a weighted average payment of approximately CAD $530 per megawatt of power per day, according to the announcement.

"The contracted assets total 310 MW of nameplate capacity across four sites: Iroquois Falls, Kingston, Kapuskasing, and North Bay," the firm wrote.

The move represents the growing integration of Bitcoin mining facilities into existing grid operations and the expanding business lines pursued by miners that are now facing more competition following the programmatic Bitcoin network halving in 2024.

For instance, mining facilities in Texas, which maintain an independent grid, have long signed deals with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas operator to act as flexible load balancers during times of peak power demand.

Meanwhile, Nasdaq-listed Cipher Mining (ticker CIFR) announcedthat it has surpassed expectations for its self-mining capacity at its new Black Pearl facility, which started hashing at the end of June.

"Hashrate will continue to increase at the site through the third quarter of 2025 as new mining rigs continue to be delivered in scheduled batches, gradually replacing legacy units," the firm wrote.

Self-mining capacity refers to the total computational power that a miner dedicates to mining Bitcoin using its own equipment and is a representation of a firm’s ability to earn Bitcoin rewards without relying on third-party mining pools or hosted services. The firm mined 160 $BTC in June and sold 58, bringing its total held to 1,063 bitcoins.