Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Marathon Digital (MARA) struck a deal Friday with the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum of Kenya to develop the African country's energy infrastructure with over $80 million in investments.

The aim of the partnership is "monetizing underutilized energy across Kenya and jointly developing technology projects," Marathon chief executive officer Fred Thiel said.

In a social media post, the company said that the investment will be in green data centers. Marathon also noted in a press release that the capital will include foreign investments without specifying sources of funds. "With projected foreign investments expected to exceed $80 million, this venture is poised to deliver economic benefits to the Kenyan economy and generate revenue for the local energy sector ecosystem," according to the statement.

The partnership comes as Marathon held talks earlier this month with the nation to help manage its renewable energy operation and advise on its digital asset regulatory regime.

Renewable energy is Kenya's main power source, responsible for 80% of all electricity generation in 2022, with plans to increase its share to 100% by the end of the decade. However, renewable energy sources like solar and wind are intermittent, meaning that they don't produce energy when most of the consumption happens. Infrastructure building for renewable energy is capital-intensive and requires a power management system to store and distribute energy properly.

Under the agreement, Marathon and Kenyan policymakers will cooperate to "better understand how to optimize renewable energy projects that produce surplus energy due to intermittency and seasonal variations," the press release said.

Marathon shares traded 6% higher at around $21 on Friday from yesterday's close, outperforming BTC's 1% advance over the past 24 hours.

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Krisztian Sandor

Krisztian Sandor recently graduated from NYU's business and economic reporter program as a Fulbright fellow and worked with Reuters and Forbes previously. Originally from Budapest, Hungary, he is now based in New York. He holds BTC and ETH.