TVA awarded $18 million in credits to Knoxville cryptocurrency mine

A Freedom of Information Act lawsuit revealed that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) provided $18 million in electricity incentives over five years to Bitdeer, a cryptocurrency mining company operating in Knoxville under the name Carpenter Creek. Records from the Knoxville Utility Board (KUB) indicated that the total amount paid out by TVA was approximately $21 million due to the miner's actual energy consumption. From 2020 to 2025, Carpenter Creek paid nearly $113 million to KUB, with almost 20% offset by TVA credits. The company also received a $125,000 grant from TVA. The lawsuit, filed in 2024 by reporter Melanie Faizer, represented by attorney Paul McAdoo of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, sought to uncover these agreements after TVA initially refused disclosure. The documents were released in November 2025, after the contract obligations concluded, with TVA agreeing to pay $9,440.88 in attorney's fees as part of the settlement. Carpenter Creek's energy use was substantial, consuming 86 megawatts in late 2025, enough to power tens of thousands of homes. While TVA has ceased actively seeking data centers and crypto miners as customers since 2023, it provided numerous such incentive contracts between 2018 and 2023. These operations now account for 18% of TVA's industrial power use, a significant jump from 1% in 2019, with projected growth potentially doubling by 2030. TVA recently announced plans to add 150 megawatts for xAI's data center in Memphis. Critics like Stephen Smith, executive director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, labeled the incentives as