Using solar energy for mining is a way to significantly reduce electricity costs, which are the main ones in the “mining” of cryptocurrencies. But this saving option is still not widely used.
The mining of digital money is often accused of harming nature. However, the situation is changing right now. Now there are ways of ecological mining. At the moment, the only way to reduce environmental damage from cryptocurrency mining is to use alternative electricity:
- Wind energy (wind turbines);
- Geothermal energy;
- Solar energy (solar panels);
- Hydropower (hydroelectric power plants).
Whenever possible, miners settle in regions where “green” methods of electricity production are available. These are areas with powerful rivers, enough sun for solar panels, and wind energy.
What you need to buy for “solar mining”
It is worth starting this section by mentioning that the sun for successful mining should be in the sky almost every day. If there is not enough energy, then the batteries will be idle. Therefore, it is not worth using this option to reduce income in regions with a cold climate and a large amount of precipitation.
In cases where the hot climate enables the establishment of solar panels, the “miner” only needs to choose the appropriate machine. Specialists suggest purchasing a device that produces at least 1 kW of electricity.
It is believed that this is enough for a farm. But some crypto-enthusiasts say that it is better to order a set of batteries at once, the total indicator of which will be 4 times more since the energy consumption can be significantly higher than the calculated one.
On the market, such a set of batteries will cost about $ 4,000. But this is not the final cost, since the “miner” needs to stock up on batteries to transfer electricity to the farms and pay the shipping company for delivery. Because of this, the cost of the equipment can rise to $ 5,500.
For ease of comparison, it is worth taking as an example a region where electricity from local suppliers costs consumers $ 0.2 per 1 kWh. At the same time, mining is a “miner” on ASIK Antminer S9, which consumes about 1000 kWh of energy per month.
That is, every month the miner will have to spend about $ 200 on electricity. For solar panels to pay off in such conditions, it will take about 27 months or almost 2 years.
This period may seem short-lived, but to add to it is the payback of the acquisition of ASIK, which lasts about a year. It is difficult to imagine what will happen to cryptocurrencies during this time and how this will affect the “breakout”.
Analyst Research about using solar energy as a mining
From a more scientific point of view, representatives of the organization CoinShares Research approached the question, of who conducting a detailed study of the issue of mining using renewable energy.
From the documents published by the company, it is clear that most of the largest mining farms are located in regions where renewable energy sources are available.
The only thing that the researchers clarified in their report is the fact that sources other than solar energy are most often used. But this type of electricity generation also takes place. On the thematic forums, you can find messages from miners who earn more from cryptocurrency than others, since they use solar panels for this.
In one of these messages, the user admitted that electricity consumption has decreased not only concerning mining but also for the whole house. The private building in which he lives requires significant expenses for heating and additional needs of the residents of the premises.
He also noted that the region of his residence is one of the most expensive in terms of using electricity from local suppliers. Because residents have to pay taxes on energy, as well as fully cover delivery costs.
Large miners with solar energy
The largest mining farm was built by representatives of the Plouton Mining organization in one of the deserts of California about two years ago. Its distinctiveness is that only solar energy is used to “power” the equipment.
Plouton Mining executives assume that the high cost of electricity is the main hindrance to commencing mining. Therefore, they decided to find landowners in hot regions of the planet to place solar panels there and organize the “mining” of cryptocurrency.
The main argument of enthusiasts is that such “mining” of cryptocurrency is much cheaper, even when compared with other types of mining, where renewable energy is used.
Desert in California was not chosen by the organization by chance. Plouton Mining analyzed all available sites for a long time until they concluded that the place in Makhov has the largest number of sunny days.
According to the calculations published by the company, the price of electricity due to the use of solar panels reached 1.5 cents per kWh, which will be relevant for the organization for 25 years – this is how long the equipment warranty lasts.
Therefore, in theory, such mining is possible and it brings a high income. But its application requires a high initial investment and ideal climatic conditions.
