Mining bitcoin with renwable energy? Is it feasible?

[henryvuong]

Lately there has been much talk about mining bitcoin with renewable energy. One company in Texas plans to do so:

(this board keeps removing my hyperlink so you can use google to find the following article on CNBC ):
"This Houston tech company wants to build renewable energy-run bitcoin mines across Texas"

One problem with solar energy is that it can only be generate during daytime. So the said company will power down their miners at peak time. That raises two questions:

1) If you powerdown your miners daily, will it damage the machine, or shorten their use life? Since bitcoin ASICs are only profitable for the first 4-5 years of their life and you will have to replace them to stay profitable, if they can last this long I assume it should be OK?
2) Solar power are only available during daytime so if you only run your miners 8-10 hour a day when the power is available, will you be able to make profit?

In my state California, electricity rate is expensive (I pay above $0.20/kwh on average). But California is one of  the best state for solar power so if I want to be profitable with bitcoin mining I have to think solar. Say if I build a mining farm using solar power and I have to power down at sunset, will it be profitable? Using battery to store energy for after-hours is an option but will the profit overcome the cost?

[1714763176]

1714763176

[philipma1957]

Okay solar works very well in any state with net metering.  Ie you take your array

say 120kwatts divide by a factor of 5 and a factor of 6

this gives you 20 to 24 kwatts  as your hourly 24 hour output.

so you burn 22kwatts an hour for a day at a net cost of zero.

you use the grid for around 10 to 14 hours when it is dark and you use the array for around 10 to 14 hours when it is light .

Most spots in the USA fall into the 5 to 6 division factors I used.

If your state does not do net metering any and all large scale mining is not the best idea. as you need a lot of batteries and they do not last very long.

I am in New Jersey we have grid tied gear.

we have a 45kwatt array---------------- a year old will pay off soon due to 2021 mining being great
we have a 115 watt array--------------fully paid off
we are building a 350 kwatt array------will start up in May 2022

[stompix]

1) If you powerdown your miners daily, will it damage the machine, or shorten their use life? Since bitcoin ASICs are only profitable for the first 4-5 years of their life and you will have to replace them to stay profitable, if they can last this long I assume it should be OK?

If you're completely off-grid and without a single battery you might have to either increase the capacity well over your consumption or be ready to turn them even three times a day when it comes to rain or cloud as the efficiency drops quite a lot.
I've never heard of somebody powering on and off their miners each day for a long period of time so not sure how this would affect the machines.

2) Solar power are only available during daytime so if you only run your miners 8-10 hour a day when the power is available, will you be able to make profit?

If you mine for "free" for 4 hours a day you will simply recoup your investment in a twice as long period as when mining 8 hours. You will make a profit, that's for sure, but recovering all the investments before gears either break down or start making less and less money per TH/s, will be tricky at current prices you're looking at 3 years of shutting and turning them off...assuming no rainy, cloudy days.

Say if I build a mining farm using solar power and I have to power down at sunset, will it be profitable? Using battery to store energy for after-hours is an option but will the profit overcome the cost?

Check how the NEM policy works right now in California, I know they are updating it constantly and there is a whole mess right now, so if it will still be viable for small operations go for it rather than taking risk off-grid.
For a single s19 that would burn 40kwh for the night, you would need $10k for the batteries if we go for the cheapest solutions, and you're going at current rates to make $14 during that time per day , making up for the batteries in 700 days. You decide!

[philipma1957]

1) If you powerdown your miners daily, will it damage the machine, or shorten their use life? Since bitcoin ASICs are only profitable for the first 4-5 years of their life and you will have to replace them to stay profitable, if they can last this long I assume it should be OK?

If you're completely off-grid and without a single battery you might have to either increase the capacity well over your consumption or be ready to turn them even three times a day when it comes to rain or cloud as the efficiency drops quite a lot.
I've never heard of somebody powering on and off their miners each day for a long period of time so not sure how this would affect the machines.

2) Solar power are only available during daytime so if you only run your miners 8-10 hour a day when the power is available, will you be able to make profit?

If you mine for "free" for 4 hours a day you will simply recoup your investment in a twice as long period as when mining 8 hours. You will make a profit, that's for sure, but recovering all the investments before gears either break down or start making less and less money per TH/s, will be tricky at current prices you're looking at 3 years of shutting and turning them off...assuming no rainy, cloudy days.

Say if I build a mining farm using solar power and I have to power down at sunset, will it be profitable? Using battery to store energy for after-hours is an option but will the profit overcome the cost?

Check how the NEM policy works right now in California, I know they are updating it constantly and there is a whole mess right now, so if it will still be viable for small operations go for it rather than taking risk off-grid.
For a single s19 that would burn 40kwh for the night, you would need $10k for the batteries if we go for the cheapest solutions, and you're going at current rates to make $14 during that time per day , making up for the batteries in 700 days. You decide!

The only guy I know using batteries has a deal with a golf cart builder.  He takes the poorest quality 'core' returned batteries and refurbs them.

So his 'lead' Battery cost is cheap.

https://www.golfcartgarage.com/8-volt-golf-cart-batteries-trojan-battery-t-875-8v-170ah-6-pack-48v/

a pack. above is purchased by a golf cart owner and the owner returns the 8 dead core batteries .

Some have ruptured dead cells which do not really well. but if that 6 pack of core returns has 3 two cells that can refurb that means 3 x 2 = 6 cells which will do 12volts  shit for a golf cart but good for a diy guy.  He gets core's very cheap if one or more cell if really bad.

it is the only way I know to make battery solar work. you can see the price for that pack new is 1339 and is a 48volt 170 amp bartery which will do 6 amps of draw to generate 1 amp of 240volt

 psu. an s17 is 10 amps so that pack can run down ½ or 8 hours that means you need two sets to do 1 s17 24/7 so at retail your batteries cost you 2600 for 1 s17

and they will die off in 2-3 years. The rest of the solar  gear should last over 15 years

Now he will get the 'bad' cores with big markdowns.  he may pay 500 or 600 for enough cores  to last 2-3 years way better than 2600 for retail

I do not know cali laws for solar but I am fairly sure they suck.