76 sats \ 4 replies \ @DiedOnTitan 21 Apr \ on: How a Jack Dorsey-backed bitcoin miner uses a volcano in Kenya to turn on the li bitcoin
This Bitcoin use case, harnessing stranded energy sources far from the grid, enabling for the first time the build out of electrical capacity in situ, really gives me hope for the future of humanity. Connecting these sources to the grid is typically the single most expensive aspect of on-boarding new sustainable energy sources. This creates a chicken and egg paradox: Cheap energy with no grid and no customers = no investment = untapped cheap energy source. If only there were a customer that could buy and use energy right at the site...
Now we have that anchor customer for every cheap energy source. Bitcoin rigs can scale right along with increasing and maximizing the energy output of these locations thereby deferring indefinitely the expensive connection to the grid. If the hashrate covers costs (and cheap energy implies it will), this changes the game entirely. It bootstraps cheap energy sources everywhere. Bitcoin not only serves as sound money, it enables sound energy.
If there was the demand, in the Great Rift Valley, which cuts through Kenya, there is over 10,000 GW of continuous geothermal electric generation potential that remains untapped.
All of Kenyan demand for power combined though has not yet exceeded 2,000 GW of consumption at any one point in time.
So building additional geothermal generation capacity is hampered by the demand for additional capacity in which the energy produced would be in demand, 24x7.
If an additional geothermal plant was constructed and came online today, the only time of day where there is unmet demand is in the evening, (e.g., 6pm - 9pm), when the sun goes down on the country's solar generation plants but the demand for power remains high thanks to televisions, lights, etc. So what happens is they hold off on constructing of that very expensive geothermal generation plant until they have demand for its power 24 x 7.
Bitcoin mining can subsidize the early days of a new plant, where bitcoin mining is a paying customer for the remaining 21 hours per day, albeit at a significantly lower cost per kWh than what the consumers pay.
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Yes, this supports the thesis that Bitcoin serves as a great anchor customer for tapping undeveloped energy sources with variable demand. Bitcoin becomes a valuable addition to consider when investing in such conditions.
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Geez, ... typo, of course.
Should have read:
10,000 MW (10 GW)
and
2,000 MW (2 GW)
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Cute meme, but AI/HPC does that too
It's funny how you view "the grid" as this unchanging monolith, ignoring the fact that it is downstream of fiat government and central planning 🤦♂️
Also, mining itself is nowhere close to putting... nvmd, don't have time to explain it
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