Blockstream and Block collaborate on Texas Bitcoin mine

Block, formerly Square, and Blockstream are collaborating on a solar- and battery-powered Bitcoin (BTC/USD) mine in Texas, which uses Tesla storage and solar technology. The facility will be powered by Tesla’s 3.8 megawatts solar PV array and 12 megawatt-hour Megapack, CNBC reported.

Blockstream CEO and co-founder Adam Back told CNBC during the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami that the facility would be a proof of concept for mining with fully renewable energy, adding:

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People like to debate about the different factors to do with bitcoin mining. We figured, let’s just prove it. Have an open dashboard so people can play along, maybe it can inform other players to participate.

Real-time metrics

The publicly accessible dashboard will show the project’s performance metrics in real-time, including total Bitcoin mined and power output. In the future, the dashboard will include storage and solar performance data.

Improving renewables economics

Shaun Connell, executive VP of power at Lancium, said:

You get this perfect overlap with both sun quality and wind speed in West Texas.

However, much of that solar and wind power is concentrated in remote parts of Texas. Without any financial incentive, developing renewable infrastructure to use this energy doesn’t make much sense.

The role of miners

When renewables and energy buyers co-locate, there is a financial incentive for development, which improves renewable power production’s core economics, which has historically struggled with volatility.

The limitation is that West Texas has around five gigawatts of demand, 34 gigawatts of power, and just 12 gigawatts of transmission. Bitcoin miners can be seen as temporary buyers who maintain the utility of the energy assets until the grid can absorb them.

Location agnostic

According to Back, miners are location agnostic and can “do it from anywhere without local infrastructure.” The companies can add wind power if the project turns out to be profitable in its pilot stage. Adding wind power to the mix would help balance out the downtime with solar and reduce overall cost.

One of the main goals is to diversify Bitcoin’s energy source to fortify the network. Neil Jorgensen, global ESG lead at Block said:

By collaborating on this full-stack, 100% solar-powered bitcoin mining project with Blockstream, using solar and storage technology from Tesla, we aim to further accelerate bitcoin’s synergy with renewables.