Yeah battery based solar = too costly. Simple as that.
And even the best solar areas have only 6 full hours of sun year round. As the first 2 or 3 morning hours are weak and the last 2 or 3 evening hours are weak.
So 6 on solar and 18 on batteries means lots of batteries. A 3kwatt s19 will use close to 75 kwatts a day. 50 of which will be from batteries. So 12kwatts in panels gives
9 x 6 = 54 kwatts excess in the sun and guess what it is not enough since you really want 50% drain on a battery So you need 20kwatts in panels
17 x 6 = 102 kwatts excess for dark time drains down to 51 kwatts
well 20 kwatts is 50x 400 kwatt panels . Lucky if it cost you 40k. And how many good batteries do you need 200 amp at 12 is 2.4kwatts or 1.2 kwatts at proper discharge.
so 45 batteries for 1 s19
and 50 panels
and an inverter
and a proper charger.
You will be hard pressed to build that under 50k and maybe it lasts 5 years. then new batteries.
and s19 makes 7 or 8 a day x 365 = 2555-2920 a year or 12775 to 14600 in 5 years.
then new batteries adds at least 5k cost.
so 50k upfront
5k in five years
55k gives you 10 years power
and maybe 26k earned.
Battery solar is very tough to make work due to battery replacement costs.
Topic: Come and mine Bitcoin in Africa. (Read 408 times)
I agree that PV-panels cannot generate electricity at night, but the energy generated during the day can be stored in batteries and used to power your station at night. I know that batteries can be expensive but they can be a worthwhile investment as they enable the project to provide electricity around the clock, making it a more viable and sustainable option.
So my point here is, if they can overcome the initial cost hurdle, then the project could still be feasible imo.
So my point here is, if they can overcome the initial cost hurdle, then the project could still be feasible imo.
If it's feasible, why is nobody doing it?
Simple, because the cost of the batteries will never be offset, especially since you need a ton and you're going to have a full cycle every day.
If by overlapping with solar panels thus maximizing the interval in which you generate enough power to 12 hours as you don't generate electricity immediately after sunrise, you will still need to power one miner for the other 12 hours on batteries, one 3KW miner means 36 KWH, so that's half the battery of an electric car, that's going to have 365 cycles a year so it will be dead in 5 years at most, not to mention losing capacity, make the cheapest option possible with half used batteries sand you're up for another $10k upfront and $10k your miners needs to recover, this will an s19 makes around 3k a year before electricity.
Feasible? No!!!
Not all countries in Africa have high temperatures, but in areas where temperatures can reach 40 to 50 degrees Celsius, miners could set up a large solar energy facility to generate all the electricity needed for their business, including the mining equipment and cooling systems (when the temperature is very high).
This would create a cool and favorable atmosphere for mining operations within the company with a fully set up station with PV panels would be established outside to produce electricity. It is important to note that this project would require significant initial investment.
This would create a cool and favorable atmosphere for mining operations within the company with a fully set up station with PV panels would be established outside to produce electricity. It is important to note that this project would require significant initial investment.
You're basically telling people that with enough investment you can build greenhouses and grow tomatoes in Svalbard.
Yes, you can, but why is nobody doing it?
It's hard to mine when it's 40-50 degrees Celsius outside. If only somewhere in the mountains, where it is not so hot.
A lot of electricity has to be spent on cooling, and building their own stations to generate electricity. Lots of extra costs.
Not all countries in Africa have high temperatures, but in areas where temperatures can reach 40 to 50 degrees Celsius, miners could set up a large solar energy facility to generate all the electricity needed for their business, including the mining equipment and cooling systems (when the temperature is very high).A lot of electricity has to be spent on cooling, and building their own stations to generate electricity. Lots of extra costs.
This would create a cool and favorable atmosphere for mining operations within the company with a fully set up station with PV panels would be established outside to produce electricity. It is important to note that this project would require significant initial investment. However, in the long run I believe it has the potential to be highly profitable.
So my point here is, if they can overcome the initial cost hurdle, then the project could still be feasible imo.
It's hard to mine when it's 40-50 degrees Celsius outside. If only somewhere in the mountains, where it is not so hot.
A lot of electricity has to be spent on cooling, and building their own stations to generate electricity. Lots of extra costs.
Not all countries in Africa have high temperatures, but in areas where temperatures can reach 40 to 50 degrees Celsius, miners could set up a large solar energy facility to generate all the electricity needed for their business, including the mining equipment and cooling systems (when the temperature is very high).A lot of electricity has to be spent on cooling, and building their own stations to generate electricity. Lots of extra costs.
This would create a cool and favorable atmosphere for mining operations within the company with a fully set up station with PV panels would be established outside to produce electricity. It is important to note that this project would require significant initial investment. However, in the long run I believe it has the potential to be highly profitable.
It's hard to mine when it's 40-50 degrees Celsius outside. If only somewhere in the mountains, where it is not so hot.
A lot of electricity has to be spent on cooling, and building their own stations to generate electricity. Lots of extra costs.
Not all countries in Africa have high temperatures, but in areas where temperatures can reach 40 to 50 degrees Celsius, miners could set up a large solar energy facility to generate all the electricity needed for their business, including the mining equipment and cooling systems (when the temperature is very high).A lot of electricity has to be spent on cooling, and building their own stations to generate electricity. Lots of extra costs.
This would create a cool and favorable atmosphere for mining operations within the company with a fully set up station with PV panels would be established outside to produce electricity. It is important to note that this project would require significant initial investment. However, in the long run I believe it has the potential to be highly profitable.
It's hard to mine when it's 40-50 degrees Celsius outside. If only somewhere in the mountains, where it is not so hot.
A lot of electricity has to be spent on cooling, and building their own stations to generate electricity. Lots of extra costs.
A lot of electricity has to be spent on cooling, and building their own stations to generate electricity. Lots of extra costs.
So which of the Celsius is the best weather to mine in African soil? Africa is a cool place to mine because all the resources are there. But the only problem the mining company might face the electricity and if the company comes with their own electrical equipment then their is nothing to worry about again. There are three types of first in Africa and a mining company can select anyone (place) to settle dawn. There are Tropical Rain Forest, Savanah Forest and Mangrove Forest. And the forests are subdivided into different weather season. Rain season, cool (harmartan) season and sun (hot) season. Miners can select any of this period and start their mining.
It's hard to mine when it's 40-50 degrees Celsius outside. If only somewhere in the mountains, where it is not so hot.
A lot of electricity has to be spent on cooling, and building their own stations to generate electricity. Lots of extra costs.
A lot of electricity has to be spent on cooling, and building their own stations to generate electricity. Lots of extra costs.
~snip~
After all, heat is just another form of energy that can be harnessed and converted into other forms of energy and used for various purposes. It's all about finding creative solutions and making the most of what's available, right?
Well said, the use of heat and the sun is crucial. It's possible to generate energy from heat, whether it's for making hot water to heat things like water in hotels or hospitals, as you mentioned, and/or we can use it to generate electricity with PV-panels. After all, heat is just another form of energy that can be harnessed and converted into other forms of energy and used for various purposes. It's all about finding creative solutions and making the most of what's available, right?
If you create a good project to generate electricity using solar radiation, you could obtain free electricity to power another mining project with numerous cooling equipments and anything else you might need. It would be very interesting to mine in Africa imo.
I totally agree with OP. It's great to see how Bitcoin mining can make a positive impact on the standard of living in African communities. It's true that some African nations may not have all the ideal conditions for mining, but things are changing for the better. I think it's important to consider the humanitarian aspects of mining, not only economic, and strive for a positive impact on the communities in which mining operations are located.
Not only that but you also can not really use the heat for other purposes. If you own a warehouse in Siberia you can have a mining section somewhere in a corner and as a side effect your warehouse is heated for free. This will sadly not work in Africa and also cooling water etc will be more challenging.
Totally get what you're saying! Using the heat generated from mining to warm up a warehouse like in Siberia might not be as feasible in Africa. The hot temperatures there don't really lend themselves to that kind of setup. And yeah, cooling can be a challenge too, especially with water scarcity in some areas. But hey, there are still ways to repurpose the heat for things like hot water in hotels or hospitals, with some cool techniques like immersion cooling. After all, heat is just another form of energy that can be harnessed and converted into other forms of energy and used for various purposes. It's all about finding creative solutions and making the most of what's available, right?
I think in Africa a lot of electricity will be used to cool video cards) the colder the country, the lower the electricity costs 
Not only that but you also can not really use the heat for other purposes. If you own a warehouse in Siberia you can have a mining section somewhere in a corner and as a side effect your warehouse is heated for free. This will sadly not work in Africa and also cooling water etc will be more challenging.
Totally get what you're saying! Using the heat generated from mining to warm up a warehouse like in Siberia might not be as feasible in Africa. The hot temperatures there don't really lend themselves to that kind of setup. And yeah, cooling can be a challenge too, especially with water scarcity in some areas. But hey, there are still ways to repurpose the heat for things like hot water in hotels or hospitals, with some cool techniques like immersion cooling. After all, heat is just another form of energy that can be harnessed and converted into other forms of energy and used for various purposes. It's all about finding creative solutions and making the most of what's available, right?
I think in Africa a lot of electricity will be used to cool video cards) the colder the country, the lower the electricity costs
Not only that but you also can not really use the heat for other purposes. If you own a warehouse in Siberia you can have a mining section somewhere in a corner and as a side effect your warehouse is heated for free. This will sadly not work in Africa and also cooling water etc will be more challenging.
Considering how the profitability in Bitcoin mining depends on running heavy equipment 24/7 and the probability of mining a valid block is decreasing with time and it's getting more difficult to earn much profit from mining, the very first thing for a Bitcoin mining firm is obviously having cheap and always available electricity supply.
African countries that you mentioned which made it in the list of cheap electricity-providing countries aren't close to the top 5 nations, so I wonder why would a mining firm choose a country positioned at number 8 or above instead of choosing one from the top.
African countries that you mentioned which made it in the list of cheap electricity-providing countries aren't close to the top 5 nations, so I wonder why would a mining firm choose a country positioned at number 8 or above instead of choosing one from the top.
However, which of these have high quality high reliability data centres?
As far as the topic at hand is concerned, you don't need a data center to mine Bitcoin, many mining farms do exist in Africa, they face many issues but internet connection is not one of them.
Power infrastructure is the main concern, whatever Statista has to say about how cheap electricity is in Africa is pretty much far from accurate, power is cheap in most African countries because it's subsidized, and even the oil-rich countries don't own enough petroleum refineries, so the cost of electricity is pretty on the high end even for those countries, and since it's subsidized, it's pretty limited, many countries don't produce anything above 5000-10000MW worth of power, Africa as-is is a terrible place for any large mining operation.
I think in Africa a lot of electricity will be used to cool video cards) the colder the country, the lower the electricity costs
Ping times to jo-burg from europe were terrible when I had a node down there.
alas, ping times are directly related to the distance, Johannesburg is in South Africa, it's the furthest point in Africa from Europe, half of Africa is closer to the EU than the east part of U.S, EU is closer to the majority of African countries than to the western part of the U.S, a random example would be ping from Lagos to London, which averages below 100ms, a much better result than most other locations in respect to London.
AWS only has Cape Town,
Azure only has Cape Town and Johannesburg,
Google only has Johannesburg,
Vultr only has Johannesburg
...
One thing that really stood out to me is the friendly people of Africa. It's so important to have a welcoming and supportive community when setting up a business, and it sounds like African nations have a lot to offer in that regard.
I think it's great to consider all the factors when deciding where to mine Bitcoin, and Africa definitely seems like a promising option.
I think it's great to consider all the factors when deciding where to mine Bitcoin, and Africa definitely seems like a promising option.
I think there is people willing to mine on bitcoin there but it not just about cheap electricity although is be one of a lot of consideration too
Like internet speed, reliability of power and regulation on bitcoin mining oh also the source of electricity since some people believe bitcoin mine on dirty energy would be great if the energy comes from renewable source
Like internet speed, reliability of power and regulation on bitcoin mining oh also the source of electricity since some people believe bitcoin mine on dirty energy would be great if the energy comes from renewable source
Ping times to jo-burg from europe were terrible when I had a node down there.
alas, ping times are directly related to the distance, Johannesburg is in South Africa, it's the furthest point in Africa from Europe, half of Africa is closer to the EU than the east part of U.S, EU is closer to the majority of African countries than to the western part of the U.S, a random example would be ping from Lagos to London, which averages below 100ms, a much better result than most other locations in respect to London.
Given that mining profitability is very dependent on the cost of electricity. I just see about 4 countries you have mentioned. Africa has over 50 countries if I recall well, where are the rest? Or is mining going to happen in only 4 countries in the whole continent?
Solar energy makes much more sense as a backup option, but not running full-time. There might be a lot of Sunlight in the Sahara and Sub Saharan areas, but don't forget the unpredictable weather in the tropics. Importing solar equipment from Europe, the US or Asia might also be very expensive
Now, I doubt if there are any mining gear manufacturers based in Africa, so importing the mining will also likely double the cost of investment. We all know shipment fees and custom taxes can be very exorbitant
Solar energy makes much more sense as a backup option, but not running full-time. There might be a lot of Sunlight in the Sahara and Sub Saharan areas, but don't forget the unpredictable weather in the tropics. Importing solar equipment from Europe, the US or Asia might also be very expensive
Now, I doubt if there are any mining gear manufacturers based in Africa, so importing the mining will also likely double the cost of investment. We all know shipment fees and custom taxes can be very exorbitant
Ping times to jo-burg from europe were terrible when I had a node down there.
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