Substation explosion and fire halts bitcoin mining site in Niagara Falls

What happened

On 10 May 2022 an explosion occurred at the substation serving a bitcoin mining facility in Niagara Falls, New York, United States. The explosion led to a fire and took thousands of mining machines offline. The facility is owned by Blockfusion, which provides colocation services to cryptocurrency miners. Bit Digital, one of its clients, said power was cut to about 2,515 of its bitcoin miners and about 710 Ethereum miners at the site.

The client said no one was injured and there was no significant damage to the mining centre building or to its miners. Operations were hoped to resume within a few weeks, but no assurance on timing was given. Blockfusion was working with its insurer and the power utility to restore power as quickly as possible.

Contributing factors

Bit Digital's statement said the explosion and fire are believed to have been caused by faulty equipment owned by the power utility. This has not been confirmed by an independent investigation in the source. Blockfusion and Bit Digital said they intended to pursue claims, including reimbursement for lost revenue.

Lessons learned

1. Utility-owned substation equipment upstream of a data centre can be a single point of failure, so operators should map third-party supply equipment and seek assurance on its condition and maintenance.
2. Response plans for fire or explosion at an incoming supply should cover prolonged loss of power, with restoration timelines communicated early and without guarantees.
3. Contracts with utilities and colocation clients should set out responsibilities, liability and restoration arrangements in advance, so that claims and recovery are not delayed after an outage.

More lessons on outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.

Source

theblock.co