Antminer energy cost - Solar maybe a solution?

[fifties]

In late August, I bought four S3 Antminers and two 1,000 watt P/S, and gave them to my son to operate at his house.

 The idea was that the first several coins he mined would be liquidated and pay me back for the equipment, and he could then keep whatever was forthcoming.

His electric bill came it at a tad over $600 for the month (before the Antminers it was below $100/mo).  So the equipment is now sitting at my house, back in their boxes, since he can't afford the $500 a month extra hit.

I've been wondering if obtaining a 1,000 watt solar generator might be the way to go.  Living in a southern California inner valley, sunlight is ample.

Has anyone had any experience using solar power for these units?

[hayabusa911]

It will take a HUGE investment in solar before you will see a profit on this. How did you not do the math BEFORE getting the bill?

[chennan]

Electricity is an essential factor to run the mining business successfully other than the efficient mining rig. Building solar power is a good idea for mining. But small miners have no experience and large capital to run such mining business, which is risky investment.     

[SaltySpitoon]

I've been building my own solar panels, its far cheaper than buying retail panels, however it is still a relatively large upfront cost (depending on your electricity rates) to build my own, its about $30-40 per 100 Watts. Not especially worth it, since I'm paying $0.05-0.06/kWH but its an option to consider if you are paying $600 per month.

I tried setting up my own nuclear reactor a while ago, but apparently thats frowned upon. Incredibly cheap if you go that route though.

[mwizard]

Solar may help for 6 hours a day but you still need to buy power for the other 75% of the time. So you could assume the electricity cost would only fall to $500*0.75 or about $375 per month with solar panels.

An alternative would be to use solar panels to just run the miners for 6 or so hours a day when the sun is shining.  

While in theory you could erect say 8,000 watts of solar panels and use batteries to run off solar all the time the experience of others is that this is not cost effective.  Miners draw too much power.

Also $500 of electricity over a month for four S3s seems high.  It is just over $16 a day or 67 cents per hour.  As 4 S3s draw about 1,400 Watts your electricity cost is close to 50 cents per KWh which seems high.  As mining with an S3 currently only earns about 30 cents per KWh you are not even mining the cost of your electricity.
 

[philipma1957]

Solar may help for 6 hours a day but you still need to buy power for the other 75% of the time. So you could assume the electricity cost would only fall to $500*0.75 or about $375 per month with solar panels.

An alternative would be to use solar panels to just run the miners for 6 or so hours a day when the sun is shining.  

While in theory you could erect say 8,000 watts of solar panels and use batteries to run off solar all the time the experience of others is that this is not cost effective.  Miners draw too much power.

Also $500 of electricity over a month for four S3s seems high.  It is just over $16 a day or 67 cents per hour.  As 4 S3s draw about 1,400 Watts your electricity cost is close to 50 cents per KWh which seems high.  As mining with an S3 currently only earns about 30 cents per KWh you are not even mining the cost of your electricity.
 

I thought this but realized he must of used ac to cool off the heat they made.  


 Hey op what batch did you buy and how long have they been sitting idle?

To the op southern ca charges insane power prices.  Try to find a host in  the state of Washington.

[fifties]

It will take a HUGE investment in solar before you will see a profit on this. How did you not do the math BEFORE getting the bill?

I had him call So Cal Edison to get an idea of what a future bill would be, with him telling them the usage he was going to be doing, and they told him it would prolly double his previous bills, so we logically figured about $200/mo.  Their guesstimate was obviously way off.

Solar may help for 6 hours a day but you still need to buy power for the other 75% of the time. So you could assume the electricity cost would only fall to $500*0.75 or about $375 per month with solar panels.

An alternative would be to use solar panels to just run the miners for 6 or so hours a day when the sun is shining.  

While in theory you could erect say 8,000 watts of solar panels and use batteries to run off solar all the time the experience of others is that this is not cost effective.  Miners draw too much power.

Also $500 of electricity over a month for four S3s seems high.  It is just over $16 a day or 67 cents per hour.  As 4 S3s draw about 1,400 Watts your electricity cost is close to 50 cents per KWh which seems high.  As mining with an S3 currently only earns about 30 cents per KWh you are not even mining the cost of your electricity.
 

So Cal Edison uses tiered rates, which may be the reason for the high end cost.

I thought this but realized he must of used ac to cool off the heat they made.  


Hey op what batch did you buy and how long have they been sitting idle?

To the op southern ca charges insane power prices.  Try to find a host in  the state of Washington.

They were batch 5 IIRC, and only used for about 5 weeks or so, and not overclocked.
If you're interested, 4 miners, two 1,000 watt P/S and two Antminer switches, all in original boxes.
Make me an offer I can't refuse, lol.

I also want to thank ya'all for the information you've posted.  Always a learning experience, even at my crusty old age, eh eh.

[notlist3d]

Most likely you would be better off paying a good data center if your rates are to high.   Solar investment is so much you cannot justify it with mining.  Mining just uses to much electricity to be effective solar powered.

[ANTIcentralized]

I've been building my own solar panels, its far cheaper than buying retail panels, however it is still a relatively large upfront cost (depending on your electricity rates) to build my own, its about $30-40 per 100 Watts. Not especially worth it, since I'm paying $0.05-0.06/kWH but its an option to consider if you are paying $600 per month.

I tried setting up my own nuclear reactor a while ago, but apparently thats frowned upon. Incredibly cheap if you go that route though.

Not sure if you are serious about this or not, however I seriously doubt that any *person* in most of the world would be able to build a nuclear reactor as the risk is simply too high that they will either be a bad actor, will be pressured to become a bad actor, or will have lax security. However I do think that nuclear power is going to be the most sustainable and cheap source of power available (also we will need to see much more of it in the future).

With that being said, producing your own electricity, regardless if you are producing it from solar panels, wind farm, or a nuclear reactor, it will generally be a bad idea to use your miners to consume your electricity. The reason for this is because you would be defacto being paying retail prices for the electricity you consume (or at least wholesale depending on what part of the country/world you are int) because you would be able to sell your excess electricity at retail prices (or wholesale).

If you want to have a cost advantage while using your miner then you should either have your miners hosted in a data center that has low costs (including electric costs) or purchase property in a place that has access to cheap retail costs.

[MelodyRowell]

Selling back solar energy to the grid is much better then you using them to mine, its more profitable...

[philipma1957]

Selling back solar energy to the grid is much better then you using them to mine, its more profitable...

  depends on your power provider and what his company will pay you for that power.

[fifties]

If you want to have a cost advantage while using your miner then you should either have your miners hosted in a data center

Can you steer me toward information on how to do this?

[ElizabethAngel]

Setting up solar isn't easy and it is expensive if we ask expert to do it instead..

[BitcoinHeroes]

Solar is really costly to set up, if I add those into my cost and my miner still doesn't ROI...