Holy crap where did my math go wrong on the power, you're 100% correct 800 * 1370 = 1,096,000
Thank you for the info. Once i get passed the business plan ill reach out.
Also chuckled when you said "a warehouse with a roof big enough". Basic solar math, presuming you want to run on 13.5TH S9, with a real world consumption of around 1450 watts:
* (1) typical panel, lets say a 130W one, will produce about 4 hours of power a day at 80% of its rated rate (since the rated rate is optimal during noon soon in the tropics): 130*0.8*4=416 watts per panel per day
* Each miner therefore requires about 3.5 panels
* 1 megawatts of power = (690) 1450W miners = 2,145 panels at about a square meter each, so call it 21,450 square feet of roof space over a data center that doesn't need to be over 2000 square feet in size, likely larger.
But wait... Nobody is going it invest that type of money to run miners for 4 hours a day, so lets add batteries and enough panels to run for a full 24 hours: 80% efficient charging batteries = 2145*6/0.8 = 16,100 panels. So about $2M in panels. Batteries to carry say, 3 days of butts, will match that cost. So now your at $4M. Oh, but wait again... we only have enough panels to keep ourself running for 24 hours and now, after a butty day or three, we need to run AND charge those batteries. Better double the array size (now $4M and 32,200 panels). Plus battery chargers, inverters, etc. Add at least another $2M.
So, we have $6M in solar infrustructure to run 690 miner at something like $1300 each current pricing (sorry, Bitmain doesn't have 13.5's listed right now, which this math is based on); eg. ~$900K in miners.
At $0.10/kwh, and 1MW of required current, each hour cost $100. So in about 7 years you will break even. Except that your batteries will likely have been replaced once in that timeframe and likely be coming due for a second round, at $2M a pop. Good news, electronics are likely good for 10-15 years.
Oh, and since we now have 32,200 panels in our little setup, your going to need about 320,000 square feet of south facing roof. That just a bit over 7 acres ON THE SOUTH SIDE. So a 640,000 square foot warehouse of which you will be using around 2000 square feet. Or perhaps you could find a 6000 square foot building and provide about 1% of your power for a mere $60,000 - but why bother.
Granted, you could grid tie, and eliminate the batteries and half the electronics, but then you need to deal with paying retail power rates and likely being credited wholesale power rates. Not aware of many NEW grid tied solar contracts that allow for reversible meters like they use too. They electric companies have wised up and paid off the right politicians to protect their turf.
First of all, Yes it's a lot of panels. I dont believe i said i was going to run the entire datacenter on solar. To get 50PH worth of electricity from solar would be pretty nuts.
Second, you're completely disregarding the value of srecs. Again, i haven't investigated yet but my hope is that there's a state with low enough electricity rates, or an authority willing to cut a deal due to a saturated market (which i know would mean the srecs are likely devalued.
I was taught how to size solar installations by the VP of sales at AEE solar. I worked for a solar monitoring company based in Germany and I still talk to a lot of the guys in the industry. I've installed monitoring equipment in 500kWh inverters, (which i was TOTALLY not licensed to touch). You didn't take into account any string sizing, central inverters, etc. I'd need far more roof space than 2000 SqFt. Also, a 2000 SqFt building is not nearly as big as you think it is. They'd likely end up in a field behind the building, which makes wiring to the central inverters much easier. Honestly my best effort will be to make a deal with a government agency somewhere, most likely outside the US. I could get someone to not only help me install renewables, but give me a fantastic price on all of it too. Once you enter the solar industry they say you never leave. I escaped back to IT. Took the job with the German company as a time buyer before i found my next ERP consulting / project manager role.
Third: I wouldn't contract the solar. That's how you get ripped off in solar. The contractors go off and sell your srecs and give you a "lower" price on electricity.
Fourth: I haven't run numbers yet as you can clearly see when i figured clumsily did the math and came up with a MWh for 40 or 50 PH. Kano's absolutely right. Your power usage for 13 or 14 TH is off, by almost a kWh There's also a contingency of waiting for a new bitmain product or rolling the dice with halong. Theyr'e shipping now so i'm sure opinions will be popping up. Everyone know's jihans at least smart enough to wait until he has competition to release a miner that i guarantee is already in testing. See the Unknown miner that starts with 1AM2. Unless it's someone who has multiple data centers, that's most certainly a mix of bitmain using their own supply of S9s with a combo of their new unit (lets call it the S11), or even strictly S11's that they're refurb and sell to idiots like us.
Fifth: I would 100% grid tie. I wouldn't put that kind of hash power to the whim of inverter/battery failure, or butty days. The solar and/or wind is merely to reduce power consumed by the grid. Get that number down to maybe 5-6 cents. I have to do the math.
Sixth: I don't know if you've been down south at all but there are SO many warehouses just itching to be rented. I worked for a window company and we moved operations from CT to SC when the company was bought. we moved into a half a million square foot facility and used 1/4 of it. We rented out the remaining portion of it, which covered the rent for the building and then some.
There's dozens of ways to cut costs. Miner manufacturers, like every other industry, offers deal for bulk. So does solar.
I haven't put the numbers together yet. That's tomorrow night's job and likely a few nights after that collecting data and running numbers. The first place i checked was with the pool i want to mine on. The second step is draw up the business plan, because as you must know, daily earnings would clearly be based on whether i acquire what i need to competently solo mine, or distribute luck to a pool. I'd far rather the security of the pool than go up against bitmain & co. I'm not going to have a friggen exahash. not even close. I'm actually fairly optimistic about the numbers without having put the plan together. And who said it has to be in the US either? Did you know that just a year ago Germany had to PAY france to take power from them because their grid was too hot due to crazy mass adoption of solar? Their feed-in tariff program worked very well.
Finally, Get bent man
Edit: I cant believe i put the effort into all that for a troll in a forum where i'm asking opinions about bringing a lot of hash power here. Im ashamed
Edit 2: I see why now. you have 1.7PH here. afraid that your farm is cutting it too close as it is and taking shares and possibly not returning the blocks needed might put you in the red.
