Block and Blockstream are partnering with Tesla on an off-grid, solar-powered bitcoin mine in Texas

Block and Blockstream, a company that builds the bitcoin infrastructure, are partnering with Tesla on an open-source, solar-powered bitcoin mine, the companies announced Friday. Tesla's 3.8-MW solar PV array and its 12 megawatt-hour megapack will power the facility, and construction has begun on the project.

“We are excited to begin building this facility using Tesla Solar and Megapack,” Blockstream CEO and co-founder Adam Back said in a press release. “This is a step forward in proving our thesis that bitcoin mining can fund zero-emission electricity infrastructure and drive economic growth for the foreseeable future.”

The facility is targeted to be completed "by the end of this year". When it is running, there will be a publicly available dashboard showing "real-time metrics of project performance, including power output and bitcoin mining." The plan is available for the dashboard “24/7 from any browser, providing the industry with real-world, real-time case studies of zero-emissions energy bitcoin miners.”

“People like to argue about the various factors with bitcoin mining,” Back said in an interview with CNBC. "We thought, let's prove it. There's an open dashboard that people can play along with, maybe it can inform other players to participate."

Blockstream and Block (formerly Square) first announced in June that they planned to build the facility.