Thread by @alichehrehsaz

A great podcast 🎧 The intersection of #Bitcoin and distributed energy resources is a worthwhile conversation.

A few thoughts on the topic in 🧵

Big shouts to @thetrocro and @DER_Task_Force

https://twitter.com/duncan__c/status/1631322103956865025

A conversation about #bitcoin draws critics in to imagine how bitcoin “should” be vs. focusing on how we it can be utilized.

Example brought up was should supply be fixed and not diminishing? There is a two part response for addressing any question/criticism of bitcoin.

1 - There are no mysteries in #Bitcoin . It is a transparent network. Bitcoin is valued by the users of the bitcoin network as-is, comprised of all the features it has whether or not those features can be altered/improved.

2 - Anyone is free to fork #Bitcoin and change/alter the code. The challenge will be building a network around the fork. That adoption of followers will prove if the alterations are valuable. Note: many have tried and #Bitcoin remains as the largest network and longest chain.

The combination of 1 & 2 will highlight there is a rational reason for features of bitcoin. For the question above, one answer is scarcity. A continuous non decreasing supply will not create incentive for mining and corresponding improvements on energy technology.

That brings us to what we in the energy transition industry should focus on which is utilizing #Bitcoin mining to advance our cause and increase the penetration of renewables.

We have an increasing problem with renewable curtailment and decreasing value of solar exports to the grid.

In theory, more distribution and transmission capacity will alleviate these issues in the long term. In the near term, we benefit from co-locating flexible loads of all types.

#Bitcoin mining is one such flexible load. We can debate the use case of bitcoin. But that will only distract us from the key benefit, which is bitcoin pays for stranded electricity.

The load flexibility of #Bitcoin and it’s ability to monetize stranded electricity will reduce payback for solar + battery projects. This is especially helpful as we position solar to become the supplier of choice for 24/7 hourly matched clean energy buyers.

For 24/7 hourly matched clean energy, we need massive solar production surplus relative to the fixed demand of an off-taker. The surplus will be stranded unless utilized by a flexible buyer of electricity ⚡️

#Bitcoin miners are the most flexible buyers of electricity: distributed, scalable, dispatchable.

A question often comes up as to the long term viability of mining given the future halvings and as supply/block reward dwindles.

That is a question for the long term health/security of the network to address. By long term I mean over the coming decades as we move towards the year 2140 when the list bitcoin will be mined (in theory).

We do not need to solve problems of late and next century facing bitcoin today. What we in the energy transition industry need to focus on is that #Bitcoin mining equipment are a 4-6 year investments. Think of it as a catalyst to over develop clean energy and get past…

…interconnection delays, transmission curtailment, value deterioration on low cost hours, etc. Think of #Bitcoin as the first global market for electricity solving local challenges.

optimizeinfrastructure.com/blog

Last point, #Bitcoin mining is just the beginning. It is creating a new category for on-demand computing which could be bigger than bitcoin network in the long run. On-demand services, we are in demand. We have on-demand taxis, food delivery, movie, etc. & compute could be next.

Imagine what we can do with an abundance of #solar enabled by on-demand compute 🤔