Gridless, a Kenyan bitcoin mining company, recently revealed. Gridless’ model is welcomed because of its potential to decentralize bitcoin mining and move hash power to Africa.
mining bitcoin
using wasted energy.
Gridless, a Kenya-based crypto-mining company, says excess power from mini-grid hydroelectric generators is now being used to mine bitcoin. Revenue from bitcoin mining helps reduce or subsidize power costs.
In a recently released statement, Gridless said that so far mini-hydro plants generating less than 100 kilowatts (KW) are being used, but the company’s goal is to work with larger plants that can generate 500 KW. The bitcoin mining company states.
We are working with a mini-grid hydroelectric generator in Kenya on how to use its excess capacity for bitcoin mining, which will also significantly reduce the cost of electricity to the local community. We are working on a small<100kW site currently, soon to be 500kW.
According to one Twitter user, Nick H, in the Kenyan villages where the power plants are located, the communities are only using the equivalent of 10% of the generators’ capacity. In other words, power plants built to meet the future electricity needs of their respective villages are wasting much of the energy they produce.
Decentralized Bitcoin Mining
Meanwhile, in addition to helping reduce the cost of electricity for each Kenyan community, if the gridless model is widely adopted, Kenya and the African continent in general could become an important mining It is said to have the potential to become a hub.
“This business model serves as a welcome decentralization of the overly centralized mega-site bitcoin mining taking place today. Not only can we transfer some of the hash power to Africa, but we can also decentralize the hash to even smaller sites,” said Eric Hersman, founder of Gridless, in a blog post
On Twitter, many users praised Gridless’ “absolutely incredible” business model, with some, like Anita in Guatemala, asking how they could do this in their own country. In response, Gridless advises those interested in replicating this in their own countries to “find a partner who likes to build small hydropower and work with them to come up with a model that is a win/win for the power plant, community, and miners.”
Sign up for email here to get weekly Africa news sent to your inbox.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons