Key facts:
TEPCO subsidiary estimates that 10% of the wasted energy would produce 2.5 billion BTC per year.
Solar energy is intermittent and cannot be stored in large quantities.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has entered Bitcoin mining using the excess renewable energy that is being wasted by solar panels in two prefectures. It is doing so through a subsidiary called Agile Energy X Inc, created in 2022.
Agile Energy X has installed mining machines in Gunma and Tochigi prefectures, two provinces in Japan that are producing excess energy. The machines are being powered by a solar farm, one of the forms of green energy that the Japanese government identified as needing power output control (output power controll). Such control over the production of electricity is exercised when demand is limited in relation to supply; that is, when more energy is produced than is needed in a certain location.
According to Japanese media Asahi,
Agile Energy X simulations based on open data showed that 240,000 gigawatts per hour would be wasted if green energy were introduced to account for 50% of the total energy supply.
Asahi, Japanese newspaper first published in 1879.
Why is green energy wasted?
Energy production that exceeds demand is causing concern for private companies and governments. Negative forecasts about energy waste in Japan have increased thanks to the overall increase in renewable energy, which may in the future account for a large share of total national production.
This is because solar energy (such as that used by TEPCO for its equipment) and wind power are intermittent, and Its production depends on natural factors such as climate or time of year, which means it is easier to waste it. Due to its dependence on external factors, it is difficult to adjust it to the demand of the population.
This, together with the fact that there is currently no technology suitable for storing large amounts of green energy or transporting it to places where it is needed, motivated the channeling of surpluses of this energy to Bitcoin mining in Gunma and Tochigi.
The same media mentions that, according to some company officials, it would have been shown that using 10% of the energy wasted in mining bitcoins would produce around 360 billion yen ($2.5 billion) each year.
According to the article, there is “too little power subject to output power control in Japan to ensure the profitability of bitcoin mining with surplus power.” Output power control refers to the ability of producers to regulate the amount of power produced by sources. Such control has so far been implemented in those regions where there is low demand energy, especially in small rural areas with low population.
However, the outlet believes that if bitcoins provided “a new source of revenue for similar energy producers,” then more green energy would be used for mining, and the activity would be more profitable.
