


Providing an option to solar operators to mitigate basis risk (price spreads between the point of power injection versus load centers).Building resilient and economically feasible “solar plus storage” microgrids in developing nations leveraging Bitcoin mining as a variable economic load.

Enabling solar owners to hedge against merchant risk (low/negative wholesale prices during generating hours). Utilizing mining to serve as the buyer of last resort for surplus power when facing curtailment orders. Overbuilding of solar capacity at projects that financially were deemed to be too small/uneconomical or remote from grid capacity/load centers. The unique characteristics of Bitcoin mining enables the following solutions, among others: can do about Bitcoin mining, we are also offering five things solar (and other renewables) can do with bitcoin mining. Westly’s five suggestions of what the U.S. CoinShares research explains in detail how opponents of Bitcoin mining on environmental grounds have it “exactly upside down” and that proof-of-work mining presents the “incredible opportunity for us to increase the share of intermittent renewable generation in our electricity grids." Or perhaps Nic Carter puts it best: “.Bitcoin mining is converging with the energy sector with amazing rapidity, yielding an explosion of innovation that will both decarbonize bitcoin in the medium term, and will dramatically benefit increasingly renewable grids.” Actual data from the Bitcoin Mining Council (a voluntary global forum that provides data transparency on the mining industry) from October 2021 estimates that the global power mix for Bitcoin miners is 57.5% sustainable energy sources - higher than any other industry or major grid.Īs we illustrated in our own article, Bitcoin mining will transform the energy industry, greatly increase our ability to monetize renewable energy sources, regardless of their location or remoteness from load centers. grids, or that coal plants are being fired up to power miners, are simply unsubstantiated. But claims that Bitcoin miners are now straining U.S. Yes, Bitcoin miners have migrated from China to the U.S., without the Bitcoin network experiencing any disruption or downtime (a remarkable display of the network's resiliency to withstand attacks). His claims are not new, they are grossly misleading, and they have been refuted ad infinitum. Westly as succinctly as possible, relying upon the vast cannon of public data and writing that already exists about Bitcoin and energy. Upon reading the opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle penned by Steve Westly, we are reminded of Brandolini’s Law, which we paraphrase here: "The amount of energy needed to refute misinformation is an order of magnitude larger than is needed to produce it.” In order to prevent wasting our own or our readers' time, we will rebut the claims made by Mr.
