The 2 biggest problems with Solar & Wind are that they “don’t match where” and “don’t match when” most customers want it.

They make it almost impossible to build out an entire grid using solar&wind, even when batteries are added to the mix. But if we can solve these problems, we can make the renewable grid dream a reality.

Problem 1: Where the power is produced isn’t where it’s used [...] Unlike Gas and Coal Plants, which can be located close to a population, wind and solar farms need lots of lands, and that means they’ll likely be in remote rural locations.

1. There is a loss of power in transferring it (officially around 5% loss – but like inflation, many in the sector believe the real number is much higher)
2. Congestion. Pylons get congested with electricity just like highways get congested with vehicles. This means not all power produced by solar&wind can be used, and it gets wasted.

Problem 2: When the power is produced isn’t when it’s needed

The most obvious issue with solar&wind is that solar produces power during the day, but most power is needed for a short morning and evening peak when the sun is either mostly or completely absent. Wind can produce throughout the day but is very unpredictable.

When a Bitcoin miner stands alongside that battery, however, spare power can be bought by Bitcoin miners. Older “S9” miners are perfect for this, as they cost around $200 so can be inactive most of the day, then fired up for a few hours in the middle of the day when demand is low and that power would otherwise have been wasted.

When a Bitcoin miner stands alongside that battery, however, spare power can be bought by Bitcoin miners. Older “S9” miners are perfect for this, as they cost around $200 so can be inactive most of the day, then fired up for a few hours in the middle of the day when demand is low and that power would otherwise have been wasted.

This also helps the grid operator with demand response. With Bitcoin miners + battery storage: the grid operator is much more likely to get extra power when they need it and less likely to get it when they don’t.

99% of the year, the grid has no issues with meeting demand. But the remaining 1% of the time demand spikes and grid operators are left urgently trying to balance the supply of, and the demand for, electricity. In the past, they’ve done this using “peaker plants” – a fossil fuel plant using a gas turbine that comes on when the extra capacity is needed. The problem is that this gas turbine needs to be idling 24×7 (emitting CO2 and wasting gas the whole time) just for these rare events so that it is hot enough to quickly ramp up energy production.

With batteries, they can dump their power into the grid to lessen the grid’s need for this peaker plant. With Bitcoin miners operating as well, the grid gets 2x the benefit however: Batteries dump power and Bitcoin miners shut off and stop using power at the same time.

Extrapolating a doubling of solar/wind adoption onto the grid until 2030, we would have the capacity to build grids that would be

• An order of magnitude larger than the current size
• Able to retire old fossil fuel plants off the grid
• More than 90% renewable.