[2018-09-04] BTC Mining Firm Soluna Plans 37k-Acre Sahara Wind Farm

[Terraformer]

As Bitcoin mining becomes more popular, the electrical cost for running the operation is causing a series of problems for local communities and environmental groups.

Soluna, a computing company that uses renewable energy to power its systems, wants to offset the carbon footprint of mining Bitcoin by building a wind-powered blockchain computing infrastructure in the Sahara Desert.

Since it was first launched, blockchain has been a menace to the energy sector as it relies on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to remain secure. Bitcoin already consumes too much energy. Digiconomist reports mining operation uses approximately 71 terawatt hours (TWh) per year, an equivalent of 10% of China’s annual energy usage. It also uses as much energy as Ireland and Austria. Due to the high energy consumption of the activity, miners are continually looking for communities where power is cheap.

According to its press release, Soluna will develop a 900MW wind farm power plant in Morocco which will be combined with the company’s private computing facilities to power the blockchain in an eco-friendly and sustainable way.

Soluma aims to build 36 megawatts of capacity by 2020 and expects to create the 900MW in the next five years.

Continue reading >> https://www.ccn.com/this-firm-is-betting-on-a-900mw-wind-farm-in-the-sahara-desert-to-mine-bitcoin/

[Lucius]

At a time when we see stories mainly about hydropower as the main source of clean energy, it is nice to see that one company wants to take advantage of the wind power for crypto mining. Some might say that in this way we get much less energy then by construction of hydro power plants, but wind and solar power are far away friendly to the environment and for people.

Hydro power plants produce "clean energy" but at what cost - construction of dams completely changing environment, in most cases people are forced to relocate and animal world suffer great damage.

There are many places on earth which are not suitable for life, but those desert are ideal for wind turbines and solar power plants - completely pure and unlimited energy, so good luck Soluna

[buwaytress]

At a time when we see stories mainly about hydropower as the main source of clean energy, it is nice to see that one company wants to take advantage of the wind power for crypto mining. Some might say that in this way we get much less energy then by construction of hydro power plants, but wind and solar power are far away friendly to the environment and for people.

Hydro power plants produce "clean energy" but at what cost - construction of dams completely changing environment, in most cases people are forced to relocate and animal world suffer great damage.

There are many places on earth which are not suitable for life, but those desert are ideal for wind turbines and solar power plants - completely pure and unlimited energy, so good luck Soluna

Hydro dams have really been destructive, I should know, my own state on some island almost went ahead with plans to build 17 dams all over virgin rainforest, destroying rivers, flooding valleys, relocating indigenous people and of course just changing the ecosystem without knowledge of its effects over the long term. We didn't even need 1 dam, but the promise of selling energy all the way to distant neighbours plus the misinformed tag of friendly renewable energy almost conspired to succeed.

We'll never truly know environmental impacts even of wind-powered farms, but yeah, I don't see how they could be more harmful than hydro.

Good news I don't know, and by the time those farms complete, hashrate would have doubled today, effectively cutting their efficiency by half.

[Lucius]

Hydro dams have really been destructive, I should know, my own state on some island almost went ahead with plans to build 17 dams all over virgin rainforest, destroying rivers, flooding valleys, relocating indigenous people and of course just changing the ecosystem without knowledge of its effects over the long term. We didn't even need 1 dam, but the promise of selling energy all the way to distant neighbours plus the misinformed tag of friendly renewable energy almost conspired to succeed.

We'll never truly know environmental impacts even of wind-powered farms, but yeah, I don't see how they could be more harmful than hydro.

Good news I don't know, and by the time those farms complete, hashrate would have doubled today, effectively cutting their efficiency by half.

Of course there are disadvantages of wind turbines, they are very expensive to set up and people do not like to see them because they disturb the landscape. This is true in some cases, but wind turbine in desert have no any bad impact on the environment or people. I also did not know that wind turbines have bad impact on flying animals (birds&bats), but by some researches many birds and bats are killed in this way.

Yet when all things considered, hydro plants have a much more devastating effect on the environment and people then wind-powered farms.

Wind Energy: Advantages and Disadvantages

[d5000]

This is very good news, if it's true and the company delivers what it promises.

My dream would be a mining farm powered by something like the Sahara Solar Breeder - a renewable-powered plant generating also the energy for the production of the solar panels or wind turbines they need to work. Such projects would consume almost nothing in terms of scarce resources and could take over most mining facilities.

(There are some errors in the article, for example they don't differentiate between electricity and energy consumption - which is often 2-3 times higher - but, meh.)

Hydro power plants produce "clean energy" but at what cost - construction of dams completely changing environment, in most cases people are forced to relocate and animal world suffer great damage.

Well, it depends. There are lots of smaller hydropower plants which almost don't impact the environment at all, lesser than our streets and houses. And there are big dams in the middle of dry shrublands or deserts (e.g. this one), where almost nobody had to be relocated and almost no damage was done. I consider hydropower clean enough - when it's done well. And it has an important advantage: It can complement wind and solar plants as an energy storage facility because production can be regulated.

[odolvlobo]

Mining in the Sahara Desert seems problematic. There is the problem of the heat.

[d5000]

Mining in the Sahara Desert seems problematic. There is the problem of the heat.

On a first glance, yes. There are much better places for renewable-based mining, like the Chilean/Bolivian Altiplano, and some regions in Central Asia and Southern Africa for solar or Argentine Patagonia for wind energy.

But there are some "cooler" spots in the Sahara, too - above all, the regions near the Atlantic, for example near Agadir, Sidi Ifni or in Western Sahara, where summer temperatures are pretty similar to Central European countries like France or Germany. I guess that would be an interesting spot for a wind farm combined with mining equipment. And land should be extremely cheap there. As Morocco is trying to "secure" the Western Sahara region, and Agadir also is a popular tourist destination, the State has invested in infrastructure in the region, so the Internet connection should not be that bad, too.

And if energy is cheap, then cooling should be cheap, too.

Edit: I didn't find the exact location, but this map on the Soluna website suggests the farm will indeed be located on the coast of Southern Morocco, which is the windiest region of the country (and one of the windiest of Africa).