The idea is to build a new 30 Petahashes per second open-source Bitcoin mining facility powered by a 3.8 MW solar farm and 12 MWh Megapack system provided by Tesla.
Blockstream raised ~$40 million for the project through a token, which enables people to technically invest in the Bitcoin mining operation powered by Tesla Megapacks and solar by trading the token on Bitfinex.
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This doesn’t make sense. $40mm / 30 PH is $1,333 per TH. At most the machines cost $100 per TH, likely closer to $80 per TH. So if the energy infrastructure cost $1,250 per TH then at current machine efficiency it takes about 78 years of free operations to get to $0.06/kWh.
I think the $40mm refers to all of what Blockstream has raised using BMN. I don’t think all of it has been invested into this project.
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Is the only purpose to mine Bitcoin? Or will the solar farm also be able to sell power to the grid?
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Your rigs are profitable up to $0.15 per kWh, and the grid is willing to pay $0.25 per kWh.
Would it be a rational economic decision to turn off the rigs and redirect that power to supply the grid?
Yes, yes it would!!
However, this installation is a "pilot" and is also "off-grid", so there's no ability to supply the grid, as far as I could tell. But if this proves that bitcoin mining using solar + battery works well enough to be viable, future expansion could be built where supplying the grid when it is profitable becomes a capability as well.
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We live in the most interesting of times.
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