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It's not a completely crazy idea. Building transmission infrastructure to connect remote solar farms to load centers can be a significant part of the project co
by philipkglass 9y ago
It's not a completely crazy idea. Building transmission infrastructure to connect remote solar farms to load centers can be a significant part of the project cost and timeline. Crypto-mining on a detached solar farm could export its financial value over a low-capacity wireless data link instead of heavy wires and towers. It might have more siting flexibility than projects that plan to deliver electricity to existing load centers. Of course it would just intensify the red queen's race among the crypto-miners.
- ThrustVectoring 9y agoFor historical precedent: whiskey distillation was often used as a cheaper-to-transport alternative to shipping and selling grain amongst American farmers in the 18th and 19th century. Similarly, bitcoin is much easier to ship places than electrical kilowatt-hours are.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- 6nf 9y agoThe thing with crypto mining is you really need 24/7 electricity. Difficulty increases all the time and if you don't break even ASAP your hardware will become obsolete before you start making money. Solar panels can't do 24/7 without very expensive batteries.