As such, HIVE’s mine is an asset to the local electricity grid; the bnb miner financeare a stable source of cash flow when public energy demand is low, but can turn off their power during peak consumption.

HIVE’s mutually beneficial relationship with the local grid illustrates another side to the well-worn story of crypto mining’s negative environmental impact.

Crypto bnb miner finance benefit from renewable energy

The use of renewable electricity makes a lot of sense from an economic perspective for many miners. As a result, renewable energy preserves bnb miner finance’ profit margins since it is cheaper than fossil fuels.

The cost of electricity from renewable sources is generally comparable to that of fossil fuel-based electricity, according to Jesse Morris, CEO of Energy Web, a U.S. company that is helping a consortium of cryptocurrency miners build transparency around their energy sources.

According to Mellerud, an interesting dynamic arising from the conflict is that with fossil fuel prices through the roof, renewable energy is more attractive than ever. Due to this shock, it is likely that more miners will move towards renewables.”

A researcher who studies bitcoin mining’s impact on the environment and society, Howson, is skeptical of such arguments. Renewable energy is less appealing to miners because it cannot be produced 24/7, 365 days a year, he said. He told CoinDesk that every minute the sun doesn’t shine, the wind doesn’t blow or there’s no power because of the dry season, they lose money.

Using cleaner energy sources can also enable miners to reduce their cost of capital, according to Jaran Mellerud, an analyst at Oslo-based Arcane Research. “Environmental, social, and governance” is a criterion for making investments that considers social goals as well as financial returns.

How crypto bnb miner finance manage their energy use

Until the European Union bans proof-of-work mining, miners are consuming electricity that would otherwise be used by other industries, says Eric Thedéen, the Swedish financial regulator.”We urgently need this energy for the development of fossil-free steel, large-scale battery manufacturing, and electrification of our transport sector,” Thedéen wrote in November.Indra Overland, head of the energy program at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs

Overland concurs with Thedéen’s assertion, adding that even if bnb miner finance used energy in locations where it is abundant, they would still compete against other industries looking to take advantage of cheap renewables. “The energy transition requires a reorganization of many sectors,” Overland wrote in a February email to CoinDesk. In the coming years, energy-intensive industries will move to areas with abundant clean energy. Clogging up those locations with cryptocurrency mining would slow down this process.

Mining’s “unique energy consumption profile” is so good for absorbing curtailed energy that other industries have a hard time competing, says SAI Tech CEO Arthur Lee, whose firm develops technology to make mines more efficient and green. “Clean energy stations are typically built in remote places, thus catering to consumers who have mobility and a high power demand, like miners.”Andrew Webber, founder and CEO of Digital Power Optimization, which helps energy producers balance their loads and maximize profits through a suite of solutions, said that these unique characteristics are advantages for energy producers looking to balance their grid loads.

Managing batteries is complex.

In south Spain, energy producers are “not getting very much out of selling electricity to the grid,” said Vincent Burke, CEO of Solar in Spain, which develops small-scale photovoltaic installations. But storing electricity instead of mining comes with several caveats, not least of which is that battery technology has been stagnant for the past few years. For every three units of electricity Burke sends to the grid, he receives a credit. “So the value of that kilowatt is a third of what it is if you use it,” he said, adding that storing excess electricity in a battery is typically expensive because lithium batteries contain lithium ion., HIVE’s Baksa told CoinDesk that lithium, a key material in batteries, is pricey. “If you don’t use the energy that is produced, you have to store it somewhere,” he said. But “when you create batteries, after the period of expiration, you create a lot of waste.”. “I’m not sure anyone is going that way,” Baksa said. The pros and cons of crypto mining and batteries are different, Webber said. Batteries capture the difference in value between the low and high price for energy producers. “You charge up your batteries when the price of electricity is low, and you discharge them when the price of electricity is high, so what you capture is the difference between those two prices,” he explained. As opposed to crypto mining, with crypto mining you are looking for more or less consistent low power. In an ideal world, you have really low power all day long and all night long,” Webber said. According to him, the same place where a battery is placed might also be a crypto mine, but maybe not.

The grand crypto mining merger.

With incentives so aligned between miners and energy producers, it may be difficult to draw a line between the two in the near future. A growing number of energy companies are entering mining, while miners are accumulating their own energy resources. Voltus has created models to determine how much flexibility is worth to cryptocurrency miners: in Texas, it’s $37.53 per megawatt hour, while in New England, it’s $6.69.

It makes sense for energy companies to stay out of bitcoin mining, as it is more profitable than selling energy to the grid most of the time, Mellerud said.

Energy producers could have earned more than 10 times the cash flow by mining bitcoin than selling their energy to the grid during mining’s super-profitable year 2021, according to his research.