Bitcoin Forum

Why no bitcoin mining farms in Sahara?

With 'free' solar energy maximum profits?

https://i.imgur.com/OKZuPmx.jpg

Perhaps there are costs associated with cooling?


Solar energy is not "free"  There are capital costs associated with the construction of the solar power plant, there are also maintenance costs with keeping it running.

Don't forget that there is also no infrastructure out there to easily get equipment out there to build a mining farm. Then people need to live out there to maintain the miners and they need food and water. Also the solar panels would need maintenance as dust and sand would cover up those panels over time and that would reduce their efficiency.

+ who will be in attendance to clean and wash the panels with all the sand/dust storms that happen ALOT

build and take the normal work,  for 1000 km of solar panel square is not simple, and the earn is low then the expenses.
How have the interest to make this? And also we can't know the environment how to react to a solar panel like this!

To run a bitcoin farms in Sahara (cooming back IT) you need a internet connection.
I don't think it work in Sahara actually...

there are cost associated with shipping there the miners, also you need to consider how safe is that place in the first place

The map shows South Algeria. I'm not sure there's a fast and reliable Internet connection available there. And I doubt there would be anyone living there interested in such a business. Foreigners could be tempted, but the area is not safe for Europeans, nor Americans.

Cooling would be a big problem (although desert nights are cold they say). Also solar panels are expensive. Remember one time I did the math for my own home and it was about 2-3 years to recover the investment. But they definitely should think hard about getting all that solar energy, if not for mining, just for energy's sake.

If you want to build a mining farm on Sahara that works with solar energy, you will need first a lot of money: as normal you will have to buy the miners, also a lot of solar panels. You will have to found an small village that has good internet connection. And someone who lives there and could work in the farm, or you will need to go there to revise your investing.

??? That's precisely what I meant when I wrote the area wasn't safe for foreigners. They would get noticed instantly, like the solar panels, which would have to be hidden behind walls not to attract unwanted attention.
Another issue in the desert is dust. You would need to regularly clean the solar panels.

The other obvious question: What do you do at night?

This^

And I don't think Internet access is very good there...

1) Solar energy is NOT "free". It takes a MAJOR investment to build a solar plant, and the average lifespan and cost turns out to be fairly expensive.
   You also have to deal with the "no sun for half the day" issue, which kicks the costs up a lot more.
   See Point 3 for why "grid tie" is pretty much impossible in most of that area.
2) COOLING. Try keeping a miner COOL in the normal daytime environment in that area.
3) NO INFRASTRUCTURE. Net is possible via sat (Iridium at least covers that area, though it's bandwidth might be marginal for mining).
4) Political instability is very common in most or all of that area.

This is I think, with or without Mining, the big snag with Solar. If you have the generating capacity with non Solar to see you through the Night you might as well use it in the Day as well....

Rich

Maybe a bunch of Tesla Powerwalls could get you through the night if you reduced power consumption at night and ramped it up during the day.

Still, this idea is not feasible.

Would you trust some of the armed militia in the central Sahara with your best bitcoin rig ?  If so then you are an ideal investor to run 600+ km of internet lines into rural Mali.  Would they take your money, kidnap Nigerian schoolgirls, and have them do belly-dancing at gunpoint for the webcam if someone put in a high bandwidth connection? If that sort of thing cannot be ruled out then there is your answer of why there are no bitcoin mining farms in that part of the world.

Other problems are minor if people really want it. The only major problem will be the higher maintenance cost in cooling the miners.
Sahara could really be a powerhouse of renewable energy but is not a suitable place for mining farms.
We can see large mining farms in cooler part of the world like China, Russia, north Europe.

This threadd is one that at least got a smile when I read it.  The anwser is in the post title.  It's missing the "desert" part.  Yes night might be cold but day you are fighting being in a desert.

There are far better places to build at with cheap electricity and not in a desert.  This is one of the last locations I would look at for hosting.

Better smile would be to put the rigs inside a container under the sand then use the solar and wind energy to create electricity that will cool off the container with strategically created exhaust. Then at night, there should be a way to let the cool outside air to let it do its thing on the miners. Lots of effort though but could be a possibility to some but for me better yet bring it to Sweden :)

Also you would be dealing with sand.... imagine trying to keep big fan's clean and not allow that stuff in data center.   Sounds like a lot of filters to prevent sand... and a lot of cleaning over and over as sand comes with being in desert.

So even at night might not be so easy with the sand going all over.  I think it's a pretty bad idea.

Lol You would lose all your eanings to proper cool your miners.
Sure energy is cheap, but within 1 day your miners will be dead if you don't cool them.

It's way to hot there.