Kenyan Firm Using Wasted Energy to Mine Bitcoin – Bitcoin is now being mined using extra electricity produced by mini-grid hydro generators, according to Kenyan cryptocurrency mining company Gridless. The money made from mining bitcoins aids in lowering or subsidizing the price of electricity.
In a recently released statement, Gridless claimed that while smaller plants that can produce 100 KW or less have been deployed up to this point, the company’s long-term goal is to work with plants that can produce 500 KW. The bitcoin mining business asserted: “We’ve been working with mini-grid hydro generators in Kenya on how to use their excess capacity for Bitcoin mining, which also significantly reduces the cost of power to the local community. Small <100kW sites now, working towards 500kW soon.”
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In Kenyan villages with power plants erected, residents are only using 10% of the generators’ capacity, according to a Twitter user going by the handle Nick H. This means that the power plants, which are being built to meet the future electricity demands of the different villages, are currently losing a significant amount of the energy that is being produced.
According to Nick H, the respective Kenyan villages can reduce their power costs by as much as 90% by “plugging in a few bitcoin miners to offtake the excess power.” In the meantime, it’s said that the Gridless approach, if widely implemented, could potentially see Kenya and the African continent, in general, become a significant bitcoin mining hub in addition to assisting with the reduction of specific Kenyan communities’ electricity prices.
“This business model serves as a welcome decentralization of the overly centralized mega-site bitcoin mining that goes on today. Not only does it move some hashing power to Africa, but it also further distributes hashing to smaller sites,” Erik Hersman, a founder at Gridless, said in a blog post.
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Many Twitter users complimented Gridless’ “absolutely fantastic” business concept, and others, like Guatemalan Anita, questioned how it might be implemented in her country. In response, Gridless gave advice to individuals wishing to replicate this in their own countries to find a “partner who likes to build small hydro and then work with them on the model so that it becomes a win/win/win for the power producer/community/miner.”
