Rural Kenya harnesses stranded potential energy to mine BTC using hydropower
A rural Kenyan village uses off-grid energy generated using hydroelectric power to mine Bitcoin (BTC) and power 500 nearby households.
Bitcoin is the key to an abundant clean energy future pic.twitter.com/cLY9JWXIE9
— Miles Suter 🏴 (@milessuter) December 9, 2022
The news, along with a video and a few photos, was shared by Cash App Product Lead Miles Suter.
how does that work?
model affiliation gridless computing, a Kenya-based green energy initiative. The company is primarily focused on providing affordable and uninterrupted energy to Kenya’s rural areas.
Lacking proper infrastructure, paying for electricity in small Kenyan villages can be up to four times more expensive than in big cities. Besides being expensive, this energy is often interrupted.
Gridless buys local mini-grid hydroelectric generators that local families use to draw power, and uses the grid’s surplus capacity to mine BTC.
With the revenue generated from mining, Gridless pays for the extra energy, lowering the energy bills reflected in households that rely on mini-grid electricity.
BTC mining for energy, not energy for BTC mining
Gridless’s impressive performance has inspired investors, even in a bear market. December 6th, Gridless Safe $2 million in a seed investment round led by Stillmark and Block.
Gridless CEO Erik Hersman said:
“Africa needs affordable electricity. We will be able to serve thousands of households.”
Figures from 2020 show that over 50% of people in Africa do not have access to electricity. But even simple access to uninterrupted electricity is not enough to solve the region’s energy use problems. Hersman explains the problem this way:
“It takes several years for households to have electricity before they buy refrigerators, televisions and other energy-hungry appliances.
Scaling up is not quick. That means either another buyer for that energy is needed in the meantime, or the cost of generating that power is too high for that community to pay for, thereby slowing uptake. even more. “
Gridless believes it can harness the power of BTC mining to provide access to electricity for all African citizens and expand their usage.
