Kenyan energy company entices Bitcoin miners with geothermal power

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https://cointelegraph.com/news/kenyan-energy-company-entices-bitcoin-miners-with-geothermal-power

The country’s main electricity producer has issued a general invite for Bitcoin miners looking to take advantage of its renewable energy facility near the capital, Nairobi.

Kenyan energy company KenGen has put out a call to Bitcoin miners to move nearby and buy its excess renewable power capacity.

KenGen claims 86% of its energy is generated from renewable sources, mostly geothermal from pockets of ground source heat in the Great Rift Valley. Local news outlet The Standard reported that KenGen has space at its new industrial park in Olkaria, near its flagship geothermal power station, which could be rented to Bitcoin (BTC) miners.

The Acting Director of geothermal development at KenGen Peketsa Mwangi said that his company was willing and eager to have the miners call Kenya home.

Bitcoin is going more green, see a country electricity producer calling out for crypto miners to come to their country for crypto mining to mine with green energy, the electricity producer in Kenya, KenGen said 86% of their electricity generation are generated from renewable source. Bitcoin mining is becoming a business in the world that some organizations in a country see that they can make profit from. This will favour Kenya government in earning from bitcoin mining.

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[avikz]

It's great to see that a company where Kenya government holds 70% ownership, is calling out miners to setup their mining facilities in their country. I never knew that Kenya is a crypto friendly country. But it seems their tourism business was hit hard due to the covid restrictions and they have realized that they need additional sources of revenue.

It's encouraging amidst the ongoing global concerns against crypto mining which is thoroughly baseless and probably funded by banking institutions. Way to go Kenya.

[stompix]

Despite his enthusiasm, there have not yet been any reports of miners looking to go to Kenya.

Which brings us to the obvious question each miner will ask first: "how much is the fish  kwh?"
And the answer for this might be quite in reach since if it were in the low 3-5 range miners would have been already there, if there aren't any it's obvious it wasn't competitive enough.

Selling energy directly from the source might help cut a bit of the extra expenses but it's all about the end prices, and lets not forget taxes on both profit and imports.

[Lucius]

The first thing that comes to my mind when it comes to Africa and crypto mining are the temperatures that are actually very high in most of Africa which I guess raises the price of mining due to the extra cooling of the mining devices. But I looked at how Kenya stands on this issue and it seems that the location of the plant is still in a more temperate climate zone so the whole thing makes some sense.

The move may not attract foreign investors, but it will encourage some domestic entrepreneurs to try to make money. Success will, as always, depend on the price of energy and the level of corruption - because the greater the corruption there are many more interests that need to be met.

   

Source

[logfiles]

The move may not attract foreign investors, but it will encourage some domestic entrepreneurs to try to make money.

If it were that friendly to the domestic entrepreneurs, I think Mining in Kenya or Most African Countries would be a thriving business by now, but it isn't. When they talk about crypto Mining, you will hear about Asia (Mostly China). Europe and North America. Africa and South America rarely come up in the mining conversations, probably because it's barely a business venture there due to;

1. High power prices
2. Very high taxes on mining equipment imports and that revenue ends up in corrupt individuals pockets
3. Instabilities in different regions
4. No wide spread knowledge about Bitcoin mining yet

[buwaytress]

The first thing that comes to my mind when it comes to Africa and crypto mining are the temperatures that are actually very high in most of Africa which I guess raises the price of mining due to the extra cooling of the mining devices. But I looked at how Kenya stands on this issue and it seems that the location of the plant is still in a more temperate climate zone so the whole thing makes some sense.

Yeah, speaking from experience too, it's the second coldest African country I've lived in (Ethiopia's frigging cold in winter). Compared to rest of Africa is much cooler in Kenya due to elevated land (for me, relatively anyway, from Southeast Asia, Kenya or at least Nairobi areas, it's really chilly. Right now actually 15 degrees Celcius, which is cooler than most air-conditioned places in SE Asia). Also it seems to be getting weirdly cold there -- 2 years ago massive hailstones destroying crops all around, snow occasionally since mid-2000s. So maybe it's less of an issue there (possibly even slightly more advantageous than in other parts of low-land Africa).

[Doan9269]

Bitcoin is going more green, see a country electricity producer calling out for crypto miners to come to their country for crypto mining to mine with green energy, the electricity producer in Kenya, KenGen said 86% of their electricity generation are generated from renewable source.

I know that one of the fast booming countries in cryptocurrency is Kenya in Africa continent and its one  of the countries that has it higher population numbers engaged in crypto despite the insorbodinate hands of the government to adopt or encourage the youth in cryptocurrency adoption, same law and restriction is as well observed in Nigeria where the populous youth engage in bitcoin using p2p despite the ban from the government denying it commercial banks from any cryptocurrency payments or transactions been carried out.

since the governments are not in support neither are they ready to give hand to cryptocurrency adoption then it will be a thing of joy having the private sector taking over, this development in Kenya is of a good advantage to both the crypto industries and the electricity producing company KenGen, the solution long awaited on bitcoin energy consumption is through the use of renewable energy source but miners lack the support to how this can be realized because of the capital and technical requirements, but Kenya will begin to mark a new ground that could increase it chances for adoption with this development.

[Wiwo]

When it comes to technological advances in Africa you will mention either Kenya 🇰🇪  or Ethiopia 🇪🇹 as the technological hubbs of Africa, their major advantage is the climate conditions in both countries have low degree of  weather conditions, despite being located in Africa that is natural hot and the climate conditions is harsh and unfriendly to most heating equipment Kenya on the other hand have very cool weather conditions and will be suitable for Bitcoin mining so having a power source that is generated through renewable energy will serve as a plus to the environmental and energy consumption concerns associated to Bitcoin mining from it critics, if there any success to this development then kenya is going to be if not the first country in Africa to house a Bitcoin mining farm i wish other African countries will follow the same footsteps in adopting cryptocurrency in other to tap into it revenue advantage to their economy and the welfare of it citizens.

[Zilon]

Renewable energy is the best as it saves energy cost and consumption. This will mean more miners and less cost for transaction validation and confirmation. Miners could consider this invite worth considering so that the high electricity consumption and carbon emission as Kenya happen to be the crypto hub of Africa miners can make a worthy use of this offer

[stompix]

The first thing that comes to my mind when it comes to Africa and crypto mining are the temperatures that are actually very high in most of Africa which I guess raises the price of mining due to the extra cooling of the mining devices.

Yeah, but it's all about the price you get for electricity, throwing air outside is still a fraction of the consumption, 10 cents in Sweden or 5 cents in Arizona and people will choose Arizona, mikeywith is managing to somehow run those damn machines like this

Allow me to praise myself, I did not have to shut down a single gear while temps here been ranging between 104F to 116.6F aka 40c to 47c even at night, many schools and businesses did shut down this week because of this,

If it were that friendly to the domestic entrepreneurs, I think Mining in Kenya or Most African Countries would be a thriving business by now, but it isn't. When they talk about crypto Mining, you will hear about Asia (Mostly China). Europe and North America. Africa and South America rarely come up in the
mining conversations,

I have a feeling South America will definitely take the 3rd sport from Europe if it hasn't done so already, Europe has no cheap power while there is a ton in South America.
https://bitfarms.com/app/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-19-Bitfarms-Final-Press-Release-Argentina-Expansion.pdf

 The Company has since signed a significantly enhanced power purchase agreement with a utility-grade private power producer in Argentina pursuant to which Bitfarms is entitled to draw up to 210 MW of electricity at its discretion. The initial term of the contract is eight years. During the first four years, the effective cost of the electricity will be US$0.022 per kWh.

there is no way for anything in Europe to compete with stuff like this.

Renewable energy is the best as it saves energy cost and consumption. This will mean more miners and less cost for transaction validation and confirmation.

It doesn't work like that, the cost of mining has nothing to do with the fx fee.
The only thing the cost of mining determines is the revenue and profit of miners, dictating so how big the hashrate is.
The cost of each tx is influenced only by the activity on the network, there are 100tx in the mempool you can get a confirmation with 1 sat, and there are 100MB of more than 10sat/b prepare to wait, quite a bit.

[naira]

The offer made by Kenyan energy companies does provide an alternative choice for miners. However, to prove that the energy produced can provide a commensurate benefit, it is clear that a trial must be carried out first by a representative of the company itself as a form of proof of its effectiveness. Not as well as offering it, while other factors are not considered properly. Taxes, location, temperature, and also shipping costs of mining goods. The investor would obviously be in dire need of evidence they could consider before going any further.

[Hydrogen]

Geothermal power is cheaper than hydroelectric on average. And should represent something like a silver bullet to give miners reduced electricity costs in the industry.

The average broadband speed in kenya is around 10 megabits per second. Which should mean they have the broadband infrastructure necessary for miners to operate there in addition to low cost industrial power.

The average wage in parts of africa is $40 a month. Which could mean associate labor costs are far lower than average. On the flipside, crypto mining in africa could also perhaps help to elevate the average wage and create jobs.

[Smartvirus]

It is a very much welcome development for miners and the crypto industry at large. I guess all these counts off the somebof the original plans of El-Salvador in trying to utilise a thermal energy for this purpose. All thank to Elon whom have drawn the attention of the world to the realisation that renewable energy sources can suit better with regards to cryptos and I wonder what would be there excuses when this is mitigated against.

I'm sure miners are making all necessary considerations in contrast to this invite. It's not always easy as a foreign company, operating in a different nation, coupled with the fact that crypto projects aren't a very welcomed one around the globe and as such, you don't just jump at an invite because it solves a single problem. It's a big move and would be squarely rationalised. Hope the Kenyan government are deep in agreement to this though.

[Wiwo]

.

I'm sure miners are making all necessary considerations in contrast to this invite. It's not always easy as a foreign company, operating in a different nation, coupled with the fact that crypto projects aren't a very welcomed one around the globe and as such, you don't just jump at an invite because it solves a single problem. It's a big move and would be squarely rationalised. Hope the Kenyan government are deep in agreement with this though.

I agree with you on this, miners should not just jump into this invite because there are so many other factors that must be considered before making such decisions must, especially when the company is a foreign one. There is a need for experience in the environment, what I notice with this development is the fact that this will give miners in Kenya who are correctly making development of the mining farm or are already into crypto mining in some form. I know Kenya is a tech support country so there must be some indigenous miners who will want to cut costs and operate better they will take advantage of this opportunity.

[so98nn]

That’s wonderful. Renewable energy usage is at its best so this country is doing best at producing it. This is good for bitcoin mining as well as nature itself. Even I saw one interview of Elon musk where he clearly mentioned whole USA can be lighten up with the renewable energy and pointing out the usage of solar panels for the purpose.  The only thing is it’s cost and how each country look at it in building up the infrastructure for the same. They should really learn many things from the Kenya. Imagine all the cold wars regarding power consumption and high green house effects due to bitcoin mining would vanish up with this source.

[KingsDen]

It's a very nice development and indeed a good one for a country like Kenya. It will be fine if the company generates as much as it said as renewal energy. Let is lot be some kind of exergerated stats to attract investors.
I am sure this gesture will drive miners to the country and foster development. But my concern is how friendly the country's laws on cryptocurrencies are. Is the move of the company supported by the government?
Let it not be a situation that people will invest, after which the government will come up with their annoying and arbitrary laws to frustrate the whole process.

[mikeywith]

Yeah, but it's all about the price you get for electricity, throwing air outside is still a fraction of the consumption, 10 cents in Sweden or 5 cents in Arizona and people will choose Arizona, mikeywith is managing to somehow run those damn machines like this

Temperature isn't exactly a huge issue, you need to move enough air fast enough, most mining gears will run just fine at 30c to 40c, it hardly gets above those temps in most places(it does go above 40c sometimes, but doesn't stay that hot for too long), but even then, a bit of underclocking will solve the issue.

The more difficult issue to deal with would be the humidity, mining in a humid place is a lot worse than mining in a hot dry place, which many people seem to overlook, moisture is worse than heat, especially if you live in coastal areas, saltwater will do more damage to your gears than temps, humidity is also a lot harder to manage than heat.

Anyway, the articles mentioned that

KenGen is currently running at a maximum generating capacity of 863 MW after installing another geothermal power plant in April according to Kenyan financial news outlet Capital FM.

of course, we don't know how much they can spare, but just so you know bitcoin's current mining operations need about 15,000 MW, that's 118TWh a year.

Anyway, I think if someone wants to be "more green" would actually utilize something that lowers the carbon footprint, according to the University of Cambridge, the global gas flaring has the potential of generating 688TWh, as it stands, that's 500% more than what bitcoin mining needs, and by utilizing that, not only miners they get dirt cheap power, they will also reduce gas flaring emission that makes up about 6% of the total emission.

Some miners in the U.S have already started utilizing that "otherwise flared/wasted" gas, and I think more miners will be interested in doing something like that as opposed to sending their mining gears to Kenya, after all, "green" energy can't be that cheap.

[AmoreJaz]

It's a very nice development and indeed a good one for a country like Kenya. It will be fine if the company generates as much as it said as renewal energy. Let is lot be some kind of exergerated stats to attract investors.
I am sure this gesture will drive miners to the country and foster development. But my concern is how friendly the country's laws on cryptocurrencies are. Is the move of the company supported by the government?
Let it not be a situation that people will invest, after which the government will come up with their annoying and arbitrary laws to frustrate the whole process.

just like someone mentioned above, corruption may deter some foreign investors to invest in this country. if they can't attract foreign miners or investors, they can always get the local support. it may improve the economic status of its people. kenya is still in the third world category, so if their people will find a way how to elevate their economic status, then why not focus first in helping their own people?

[romero121]

It's a very nice development and indeed a good one for a country like Kenya. It will be fine if the company generates as much as it said as renewal energy. Let is lot be some kind of exergerated stats to attract investors.
I am sure this gesture will drive miners to the country and foster development. But my concern is how friendly the country's laws on cryptocurrencies are. Is the move of the company supported by the government?
Let it not be a situation that people will invest, after which the government will come up with their annoying and arbitrary laws to frustrate the whole process.

just like someone mentioned above, corruption may deter some foreign investors to invest in this country. if they can't attract foreign miners or investors, they can always get the local support. it may improve the economic status of its people. kenya is still in the third world category, so if their people will find a way how to elevate their economic status, then why not focus first in helping their own people?

From the news source it looks like the initial plan of Kenyan Energy Company is to make use of the excess energy. Already the Energy Company have got more green energy production and this is something positive about it. When it comes to supporting its own people, the company aims in bringing foreign investment into the company. This means they earn outside the energy supplied for the mining process and never think of the market. Similar thing can't be expected out of the mining support provided to its people, because the market is volatile and the same can make the Energy Company loss it's revenue.

[Darker45]

I find it a little ironic that the country's main electricity producer is inviting Bitcoin miners to take advantage and purchase its excess power capacity when 30% of the population still doesn't have access to electricity.^[1] Secondly, the producer is offering excess power which is generated from free underground heat and yet Kenya has expensive electricity cost. I don't know, I somehow find this invitation a little odd.

[1] https://tradingeconomics.com/kenya/access-to-electricity-percent-of-population-wb-data.html