PANews reported on May 26th that, according to Bits.media, Italian energy company Alps Blockchain has partnered with Bolivian company Qurubiqa to launch Bitcoin mining at an idle 127 MW natural gas-fired power plant in Bolivia's Cochabamba province. Currently, the mining farm consumes approximately 27 MW of electricity, achieving a hashrate of 1.23 EH/s, with plans to increase energy consumption to 45 MW by the end of the year. The mining equipment uses electricity directly from the power plant and is not connected to the public power grid. Due to Bolivia's currency crisis and dollar shortage, project participants settle transactions in US dollars.