Review and Demonstration of the Potential of Bitcoin Mining as a Productive Use of Energy (PUE) to Aid Equitable Investment in Solar Micro- and Mini-Grids Worldwide

Abstract

Despite the climate commitments made by countries in the Paris Climate Agreement adopted in 2015 and reinforced during COP 21 and with notably less success during COP 22, world carbon emissions increased in both 2021 and 2022. It is increasingly unlikely that the world will achieve the targeted 50% carbon reduction by 2030, the reduction approximately needed for reducing global temperature rise since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to less than 1.5 deg. C. At the same time, there remain nearly 2 billion people in the world who have no or highly unreliable access to power. In developed countries, access to both clean energy and energy efficiency investment in residences within low to moderate income communities has also lagged. This paper provides a review of the “Productive Use of Energy (PUE)”, which is a means to add value to solar energy mini- and micro-grids to ensure investment worthiness and add more value to the communities being served. In this context, it posits an opportunity to leverage Bitcoin mining as a common PUE strategy applicable to new solar installations. Several actual pilot cases are described to demonstrate this potential throughout the world and at multiple scales. These include: (i) existing micro-grids with significant stranded energy to generate income that could be used to reduce the cost per kWh for the community; (ii) new solar micro-grids optimized to meet community load and mining operations; (iii) dedicated solar-powered Bitcoin mining mini-grids developed solely to create a funding stream for self-investment by communities for their benefit; and (iv) a low-income residential solar-powered Bitcoin miner to reduce the energy cost burden for residents. Several of these scenarios show significant potential to aid investment worthiness.