It is becoming real.
Construction started in April 2022 in Texas, USA. Blockstream and Block have joint forces to build a 100% off-grid renewable energy bitcoin mining facility. It consists of 3.8MW of solar panels combined with 4 Tesla Megapack battery units with the capacity to store up to 12MWh of energy.
Some technical details:
● The total cost of the plant is $12 million;
● Out of the 3.8MW of solar power installed, 1MW will be used to mine bitcoins and 2.8MW will be used to charge the batteries;
● Batteries are required so that the solar-powered bitcoin mine can operate 24/7;
● Assuming a performance of the solar plant of 2200 equivalent hours, 25% of the day the mine will be powered by solar panels and 75% by batteries. Hence the ratio of 2.8MW batteries / 1MW bitcoin mining;
● 1MW of solar capacity provides the mining facility with a computing power of 30 petahash/second. I estimate that at the current hash rate, the plant will be mining ~1 bitcoin per week;
● ~177MWh of energy will be required to mine 1 bitcoin. This is equivalent to the consumption of 17 American homes in 1 year.
This solar power bitcoin mine marks another step in a trend recently started by mining companies to become greener.
Bitcoin mining facilities provide an alternative use of renewable energy in remote areas with abundant resources but lacking transmission infrastructures.