Paraguay's $44/MWh deal for Bitcoin miners ends in 2027 as AI data centers take Itaipu power

Paraguay's state utility ANDE intends to let every special power contract with crypto miners expire on December 31, 2027, and it calls the date non-extendable. Miners currently pay a flat $44 per MWh, and the cheap hydropower from the Itaipu dam is now being claimed by AI data centers, CoinDesk reported on November 13.

What is at stake

• As of April, about 944 MW were contracted to miners, roughly 13% of Paraguay's Itaipu share; four companies held 730 MW of that.
• ANDE expects about $350 million from miners in 2026, up from $295 million in 2025 and about $100 million in 2024.
• According to Hashrate Index, Paraguay accounted for about 4% of global Bitcoin hashrate in the second quarter and was the fourth-largest mining jurisdiction.
• The 2027 cap is written into ANDE's own rules: the annex to resolution P/N 49.238 of June 26, 2024 says contracts in the special intensive consumption group, which covers crypto mining, cannot run past December 31, 2027.

The AI contract and the engineers' auction plan

On October 22, ANDE signed a 15-year contract for up to 286 MW with Kuntur, a company linked to Araico, the backer of the planned $12 billion Iguazú AI City. Supply starts at 6 MW on December 1 and rises to 146 MW in April 2028. Most of that power costs an average of $48.91 per MWh, indexed each year to US inflation by at least 2.5%.

In July, a group of ANDE engineers proposed capping data centers, AI and crypto mining at 700 MW combined from January 1, 2028, with power sold at auction for 3 to 5 years and a floor of $56 per MWh. In October they asked for a sealed-bid tender and used a $60 clearing price as an example. Miners already hold more than that whole cap.

The listed miner HIVE Digital Technologies is the most exposed: its 200 MW site in Yguazú and 100 MW site in Valenzuela run on contracts that end on December 31, 2027, and these sites held about 297 of its 385 MW in use as of April 30, roughly 77%. HIVE wants the contracts extended by at least 10 years but declined to comment on the talks.

What these tariffs mean for one ASIC

Take the Antminer S21+ for SHA-256: our database lists it at 216 TH/s and 3564 W, or about 16.5 J/TH. It uses 85.5 kWh a day, so electricity alone costs:

• $3.76 a day, $112.91 per 30 days at today's $44 per MWh;
• $4.18 a day, $125.51 per 30 days at the AI contract's $48.91;
• $4.79 a day, $143.70 per 30 days at the proposed $56 floor;
• $5.13 a day, $153.96 per 30 days at the $60 example bid.

The figures exclude hosting fees and pool fees. The jump from $44 to $56 adds about 27% to the power bill, which hits older machines with worse J/TH the hardest. For miners hosting rigs in Paraguay, the practical question is where the fleet goes after 2027 if they lose the auction or the price rises.