Is Solar mining really profitable?

[Abiky]

I'm curious to know if it is really profitable to mine BTC with solar panels at your home, and if it is worth doing it.

I know that there are many panels which are very expensive, but if energy costs reduce greatly to a point where you can make more money with your miner, then I'd be willing to do this.

One miner that I've been looking forward to use with this system, is the Antminer S9. Nevertheless, if you have any tips or advice, please let me know. 

[Oilacris]

I'm curious to know if it is really profitable to mine BTC with solar panels at your home, and if it is worth doing it.

I know that there are many panels which are very expensive, but if energy costs reduce greatly to a point where you can make more money with your miner, then I'd be willing to do this.

One miner that I've been looking forward to use with this system, is the Antminer S9. Nevertheless, if you have any tips or advice, please let me know. 

If you do ask me, having solar panels will surely make your mining operations profitable.If the electricity charges or cost in your place or country is high then its ideal to have panels as long you do have the money to put on but please do consider the weather conditions on your place that might affect your solar panels because if you put it on weather which do include hails then panels will be easily bust out.

[Abiky]

If you do ask me, having solar panels will surely make your mining operations profitable.If the electricity charges or cost in your place or country is high then its ideal to have panels as long you do have the money to put on but please do consider the weather conditions on your place that might affect your solar panels because if you put it on weather which do include hails then panels will be easily bust out.

Thanks for the information. I have heard that even if you buy the Solar panels, you would still need to pay some kind of a fee in order to use it in the USA. That is why I was wondering if mining with this system, would really generate you some profit regardless of the fee, among other factors. But still, it would be pretty ideal to go towards that route since you would save a lot more money with it, thus increasing your opportunity to profit in the long term.

If I were to start with this operation, I would take the most smallest and cheapest solar panel, to see for myself how much money I would earn mining Bitcoin with it. It would only be a matter of patience, until I get the necessary equipment to get started. 

[unholycactus]

I'm curious to know if it is really profitable to mine BTC with solar panels at your home, and if it is worth doing it.

I know that there are many panels which are very expensive, but if energy costs reduce greatly to a point where you can make more money with your miner, then I'd be willing to do this.

One miner that I've been looking forward to use with this system, is the Antminer S9. Nevertheless, if you have any tips or advice, please let me know. 

If you do ask me, having solar panels will surely make your mining operations profitable.If the electricity charges or cost in your place or country is high then its ideal to have panels as long you do have the money to put on but please do consider the weather conditions on your place that might affect your solar panels because if you put it on weather which do include hails then panels will be easily bust out.

I don't think you can reach ROI soon enough. Your whole gear including the S9 will be obsolete (difficulty wise) way before you can payoff everything.
Currently, I even have doubts about people paying off their S9, even with cheap electricity (around 0.06USD/kWh).

[Skarner21]

If you do ask me, having solar panels will surely make your mining operations profitable.If the electricity charges or cost in your place or country is high then its ideal to have panels as long you do have the money to put on but please do consider the weather conditions on your place that might affect your solar panels because if you put it on weather which do include hails then panels will be easily bust out.

Thanks for the information. I have heard that even if you buy the Solar panels, you would still need to pay some kind of a fee in order to use it in the USA. That is why I was wondering if mining with this system, would really generate you some profit regardless of the fee, among other factors. But still, it would be pretty ideal to go towards that route since you would save a lot more money with it, thus increasing your opportunity to profit in the long term.

If I were to start with this operation, I would take the most smallest and cheapest solar panel, to see for myself how much money I would earn mining Bitcoin with it. It would only be a matter of patience, until I get the necessary equipment to get started. 

It can generate your profit but the problem the capital you bought for tools, miner and solar panels you can not get your capital back fast maybe 1 year or nearly 1 year before you can get back and the next you will gain profits. .
here in my place we have illegal current connection but i am just mining s7 since i bought it for $200+. and it profit small amount but it is ok the price of bitcoin is not stable and i think holding it is the best and sell it in the right time .. so if you have free power supply like solar you can not touch your earning or mined bitcoin and you can hold it for a long time and sell it for a good price that can gives you more profit..

[fiscorcle]

The initial cost and setup can be in the ten's of thousands so if you plan on mining just alt coins then it is not profitable. But if you are able to sell off the hashpower then you could possibly make your investment back but it will take a while to see any profit if any.

[shield132]

It seems that this question is popular for miners because there was similar thread 3 weeks ago.
Answer is yes and I'll tell you why:
Tesla ia releasing their new project - solar roof this summer. In idea, it's great for mining because  With the power designed to be stored in the new Powerwall 2.0 battery, homeowners can keep a reserve in case of excess need.

[Zadicar]

If you do ask me, having solar panels will surely make your mining operations profitable.If the electricity charges or cost in your place or country is high then its ideal to have panels as long you do have the money to put on but please do consider the weather conditions on your place that might affect your solar panels because if you put it on weather which do include hails then panels will be easily bust out.

Thanks for the information. I have heard that even if you buy the Solar panels, you would still need to pay some kind of a fee in order to use it in the USA. That is why I was wondering if mining with this system, would really generate you some profit regardless of the fee, among other factors. But still, it would be pretty ideal to go towards that route since you would save a lot more money with it, thus increasing your opportunity to profit in the long term.

If I were to start with this operation, I would take the most smallest and cheapest solar panel, to see for myself how much money I would earn mining Bitcoin with it. It would only be a matter of patience, until I get the necessary equipment to get started. 

It can generate your profit but the problem the capital you bought for tools, miner and solar panels you can not get your capital back fast maybe 1 year or nearly 1 year before you can get back and the next you will gain profits. .
here in my place we have illegal current connection but i am just mining s7 since i bought it for $200+. and it profit small amount but it is ok the price of bitcoin is not stable and i think holding it is the best and sell it in the right time .. so if you have free power supply like solar you can not touch your earning or mined bitcoin and you can hold it for a long time and sell it for a good price that can gives you more profit..

Wow,an illegal source of electricity i rarely heard this kind of things on which people do have illegal connections well its your decision thoug but  be careful that the company would not  caught you because those earning of yours will be vanished by paying the charges of the violation that you made.Yes s7 is still profitable especially on free electricity.

[Oilacris]

If you do ask me, having solar panels will surely make your mining operations profitable.If the electricity charges or cost in your place or country is high then its ideal to have panels as long you do have the money to put on but please do consider the weather conditions on your place that might affect your solar panels because if you put it on weather which do include hails then panels will be easily bust out.

Thanks for the information. I have heard that even if you buy the Solar panels, you would still need to pay some kind of a fee in order to use it in the USA. That is why I was wondering if mining with this system, would really generate you some profit regardless of the fee, among other factors. But still, it would be pretty ideal to go towards that route since you would save a lot more money with it, thus increasing your opportunity to profit in the long term.

If I were to start with this operation, I would take the most smallest and cheapest solar panel, to see for myself how much money I would earn mining Bitcoin with it. It would only be a matter of patience, until I get the necessary equipment to get started. 

Oh, i didnt heard about fees regarding on building a solar panel on your place well if its only on small amount then it wouldnt matter then.Profits on long term is possible but do expect that ROI on total expenses would be long atleast you are saving on electricity cost when roi is achieved. There would really be no a problem as long you do have the money to invest on.Goodluck on your mining journey.

[mwizard]

It seems that this question is popular for miners because there was similar thread 3 weeks ago.
Answer is yes and I'll tell you why:
Tesla ia releasing their new project - solar roof this summer. In idea, it's great for mining because  With the power designed to be stored in the new Powerwall 2.0 battery, homeowners can keep a reserve in case of excess need.

The Powerwall 2 is still only 13 kWh.  You would need two Powerwalls to run one single Antminer S9 overnight. 

Miners use a lot of power.  They are not like normal domestic appliances.

[Quickseller]

The answer to your question really depends on the effective cost of electricity with your solar panels. When you purchase solar panels you are effectively prepaying your future electric bill in advance.

If the cost of your solar panels works out to be less then the cost of electricity then you might have an advantage in terms of mining profitability, however earning a profit mining with solar panels is far from a sure thing.

[icon73]

The answer to your question really depends on the effective cost of electricity with your solar panels. When you purchase solar panels you are effectively prepaying your future electric bill in advance.

If the cost of your solar panels works out to be less then the cost of electricity then you might have an advantage in terms of mining profitability, however earning a profit mining with solar panels is far from a sure thing.

Solar is expensive.  I have 5.9 KW on my roof.  In the winter like now, I get 25 or so KW/h generated a day.  This would not keep an S9 running.  My system is grid intertied so over generation in the day feeds the grid, and the grid gives me back one KW/h for each I feed in.  At the end of a year PGE will pay me 3 cents per KW/h for anything I didn't use.  Since I had my system installed, I have never gotten a payment.  I always end up using more than I generate.

Installing a system on your roof requires permits, and the utility needs tons of paperwork to approve you as a power company.  My array installed was a little over $2 per watt.  So expect to spend 13 to 14k for a system. 

Batteries are a mistake.  They raise the cost with no real improvements in effective use.  They also have a much shorter lifespan than most of the other equipment.

Most solar power systems have a 25 year warranty.   You can do your math however you like to figure out the electric power cost.  For my system for example if we use the most conservative numbers $13000/25=$520.  If we assume I will make 500 KW in the winter and 700 KW in the summer we get 7.2 MW/h a year. That is $.072 per KW/h.  That is a great price for electric in CA.  My rates vary between $0.19 and $0.40 depending on time of day or rate tier pricing.  The problem is you going to live in your current house for 25 years?

I sized and calculated the ROI of my solar power system based on $0.40 electricity.  At that rate my system pays for itself in 3.5 years.  So I need to live in my house for more than 3.5 years to see ROI.  But at that rate mining on the system is pointless, even with the very best miners available.  I have a number of miners, and every one of them is colocated out of state to get good power costs, or is someplace where it gets "free" power.

Some people I talk to say they want to mine directly off solar, but that means only mining in the day and wasting over generated power, or using batteries that are costly and difficult to maintain.  The simple bottom line is that you need very cheap power to mine, and that isn't going to come from solar panels, even if you buy $100 dollar ebay specials from Vietnam. 

[d@nte]

The initial cost and setup can be in the ten's of thousands so if you plan on mining just alt coins then it is not profitable. But if you are able to sell off the hashpower then you could possibly make your investment back but it will take a while to see any profit if any.

Since mining by the most common methods is impracticable these days, I was planning to build a solar-powered mining farm. But the cost, as you said, is quite high. Also there is no accurate information about it on the internet. I will continue the research anyway, this is probably the future of mining.

[leowonderful]

The initial cost and setup can be in the ten's of thousands so if you plan on mining just alt coins then it is not profitable. But if you are able to sell off the hashpower then you could possibly make your investment back but it will take a while to see any profit if any.

Since mining by the most common methods is impracticable these days, I was planning to build a solar-powered mining farm. But the cost, as you said, is quite high. Also there is no accurate information about it on the internet. I will continue the research anyway, this is probably the future of mining.

It'll definitely take some time, but with enough research and manufacturing improvements, it's definitely possible that mining will be heading the direction of renewable resources in the future. It's environmentally friendly and all, but it's really not sustainable for a large scale. Fyi I power a few USB miners off of a solar panel just for fun- they've been going for around 3 months now.

[Quickseller]

The answer to your question really depends on the effective cost of electricity with your solar panels. When you purchase solar panels you are effectively prepaying your future electric bill in advance.

If the cost of your solar panels works out to be less then the cost of electricity then you might have an advantage in terms of mining profitability, however earning a profit mining with solar panels is far from a sure thing.

Solar is expensive.  I have 5.9 KW on my roof.  In the winter like now, I get 25 or so KW/h generated a day.  This would not keep an S9 running.  My system is grid intertied so over generation in the day feeds the grid, and the grid gives me back one KW/h for each I feed in.  At the end of a year PGE will pay me 3 cents per KW/h for anything I didn't use.  Since I had my system installed, I have never gotten a payment.  I always end up using more than I generate.

Installing a system on your roof requires permits, and the utility needs tons of paperwork to approve you as a power company.  My array installed was a little over $2 per watt.  So expect to spend 13 to 14k for a system. 

Batteries are a mistake.  They raise the cost with no real improvements in effective use.  They also have a much shorter lifespan than most of the other equipment.

Expensive is a relative term, but for much of the country (in the US), it will probably cost more over the long term to use solar power on your property verses using the existing electrical grid.

The costs that you mentioned (when applicable) should be added to the cost of the solar panels when trying to calculate the total cost of your solar power. Some states/localities use tax credits and/or regulations (more specifically, the lack thereof) to encourage more consumers to utilize solar power. Not all states will make it difficult/expensive to get the necessary permits to install the solar panels on your property, and some states will give significant tax credits for installing solar panels.

Most solar power systems have a 25 year warranty.   You can do your math however you like to figure out the electric power cost.  For my system for example if we use the most conservative numbers $13000/25=$520.  If we assume I will make 500 KW in the winter and 700 KW in the summer we get 7.2 MW/h a year. That is $.072 per KW/h.  That is a great price for electric in CA.  My rates vary between $0.19 and $0.40 depending on time of day or rate tier pricing.  The problem is you going to live in your current house for 25 years?

Based on your numbers, it almost certainly makes sense for you to have as many solar panels on your property as possible (depending on the specific policies on selling excess electricity back to the grid).

Regarding living in your house for 25 years, even if you only stayed in your house for 12.5 years, then you would have saved some amount of money, ignoring the cost of paying for 12.5 years of electricity in advance. Also having solar panels on your property should at least in theory increase the value of your property, especially with electric prices being as high as you describe them.

I sized and calculated the ROI of my solar power system based on $0.40 electricity.  At that rate my system pays for itself in 3.5 years.  So I need to live in my house for more than 3.5 years to see ROI.  But at that rate mining on the system is pointless, even with the very best miners available.  I have a number of miners, and every one of them is colocated out of state to get good power costs, or is someplace where it gets "free" power.

A better way to calculate the profitability of mining using solar panels would be to calculate the cost of electricity using your solar panels (in your case, you say it is $0.072 per KW/h), and check if it is profitable to mine with that price.

Some people I talk to say they want to mine directly off solar, but that means only mining in the day and wasting over generated power, or using batteries that are costly and difficult to maintain.  The simple bottom line is that you need very cheap power to mine, and that isn't going to come from solar panels, even if you buy $100 dollar ebay specials from Vietnam. 

Some jurisdictions will allow consumers to generate excess electricity, send it back to the grid, then use that excess electricity from the grid at night.

[philipma1957]

I am in a partnership with buysolar.  He owns a solar company in NJ

we have a large grid tied system and generate excess power during the day which is sold to the  power company.  at night we buy power back.

I only know of some states  that have decent grid tied rules.
Most states do not have deals as good as NJ

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1650756.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1369207.0

even with really cheap power costs  we have struggled basically because the s-9's kept breaking down.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1599630.0

we are now at 3 s9s  and we have 2 avalon 721's along with a ⅓ sized s9

so we will go from 36th to 52th.

we will add a few gpu miners to the setup.

[Abiky]

Oh, i didnt heard about fees regarding on building a solar panel on your place well if its only on small amount then it wouldnt matter then.Profits on long term is possible but do expect that ROI on total expenses would be long atleast you are saving on electricity cost when roi is achieved. There would really be no a problem as long you do have the money to invest on.Goodluck on your mining journey.

Thanks mate. In addition to mining with an Antminer S9, I'm hoping to build a small mining farm with this system, in order to mine GPU efficient crypto currencies with it. As I've always been fascinated with Ethereum Classic's vision, I will aim to strengthen its network with a handful of GPU mining rigs sometime in the future.

The answer to your question really depends on the effective cost of electricity with your solar panels. When you purchase solar panels you are effectively prepaying your future electric bill in advance.

If the cost of your solar panels works out to be less then the cost of electricity then you might have an advantage in terms of mining profitability, however earning a profit mining with solar panels is far from a sure thing.

Yeah. I guess that it will all finally pay off after a few years of generating solar energy. Nevertheless, I see a huge advantage of mining with solar energy rather than paying high electricity costs which reduce your chances of profiting with it.

I am in a partnership with buysolar. He owns a solar company in NJ

we have a large grid tied system and generate excess power during the day which is sold to the  power company.  at night we buy power back.

I only know of some states  that have decent grid tied rules.
Most states do not have deals as good as NJ

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1650756.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1369207.0

even with really cheap power costs  we have struggled basically because the s-9's kept breaking down.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1599630.0

we are now at 3 s9s  and we have 2 avalon 721's along with a ⅓ sized s9

so we will go from 36th to 52th.

we will add a few gpu miners to the setup.

That is a really nice setup for solar mining. It is good to know about the results obtained when mining with ASICs using solar energy, in order to have an expected rate of profit you would earn with this system. Nevertheless, I wish you lots of success with this mining operation. It will be pretty interesting to see how it would turn out to become in the long term. 

[JANGKRIK BOSS]

We must understand the cost of electricity is the greatest when we mining bitcoin, if we can get free of course is definitely beneficial. By this way, we can get return of investment not more than 6 months. I am very interested to try it, because mining with solar is very profitable.

[just_Alice]

We must understand the cost of electricity is the greatest when we mining bitcoin, if we can get free of course is definitely beneficial. By this way, we can get return of investment not more than 6 months. I am very interested to try it, because mining with solar is very profitable.

No, it is not profitable in most cases. Read the previous comments in this thread and check out the other similar topics in the mining section. I wish it was profitable though and I hope the time will come when they will be able to make cheaper solar systems and thus sell them for lower prices then now. I really support the usage of the Solar energy, it's just pity it is too expensive.

[alh]

We must understand the cost of electricity is the greatest when we mining bitcoin, if we can get free of course is definitely beneficial. By this way, we can get return of investment not more than 6 months. I am very interested to try it, because mining with solar is very profitable.

It's only "very profitable" if you ignore the initial cost of the solar installation, and have no other way to use the electric power that is generated. If you have any other electric load nearby (say a residence), and you are paying actual money for that load, then it is in fact costing you something to mine.

For an economist, I think that's called "opportunity cost".