Bitcoin mining by using solar energy. Is it possible?

I have a peculiar question concerning about bitcoin mining, for example, in Brazil it is unfeasible due to the high cost of electric power. Is it possible to do mining by using solar energy? Does someone know how much energy is necessary to setup a basic unit of bitcoin mining? It sounds interesting for me, since solar energy is cheap! Of course you will have the investment with batteries, solar panels, cables, etc.. but I think it still possible.. any ideas?

EDITED

I'm looking for a basic project about mining bitcoin using solar energy.

deepcell

Posted 2014-02-15T12:09:50.143

Reputation: 133

3Since the answers are "It depends on what you consider a 'basic unit of Bitcoin mining'." and "Yes, if you have enough solar power panels.", I'd say your question is off-topic: Solar power setup is really not in the scope of the Bitcoin.SE and the rest of your question seems to boil down to a product recommendation. – Murch – 2014-02-15T12:59:18.763

The products are not a problem, I have some and I Know the dealers, the problem is really about to use solar energy for mining bitcoin. I'm looking for a basic project about this. Also I'm not looking how to setup SE in anyway, since it is already setup in the farm. Just wonder if somebody is doing mining with SE. Thanks anyway. – deepcell – 2014-02-15T13:04:01.570

Perhaps this is what you are looking for: Guide: Building a Solar Powered Mining-Plant. Information is a bit dated, but one could probably learn something about the setup. First hit on Google for "solar powered bitcoin mining". ;)

– Murch – 2014-02-15T13:13:44.850

2@B4NZ41 SE means here usually stackexchange.com – Art Shayderov – 2014-02-15T13:25:53.077

thank @ArtShayderov misundestood. ;) All answers have good points, it is hard to accept one. thanks a lot for all of you. – deepcell – 2014-02-16T22:48:40.497

1Don't worry, just pick the one that solved your question for you. If a better one comes along later you can still change it. – Murch – 2014-02-19T09:00:10.290

I saw the question was put on hold, they think I seeking a product or a service recommendations. Really is not what I'm looking for. I have already all suppliers name and address. I'm just looking for someone that did already bitcoin miners using solar panel instead of common energy grid. Thanks anyway, nevermind if I'm looking a bit mad here. 0_o – deepcell – 2014-02-22T02:56:12.903

Answers

It largely depends on what machine you want to power with those solar panels. You're definitely going nowhere with GPU based mining. As PCs consume a huge lot of energy, and those who don't, are equipped with Atom and Intel graphics, meaning mining won't get you far with that equipment.

However, it may be possible to run a USB ASIC miner based on a Raspberry Pi. I think those kind of machines consume very little energy. However, you may also need an Internet connection, but I'm assuming you already have a router you can connect to.

In that case, I'd buy one Raspberry Pi for each USB ASIC stick you want to buy.

The initial cost may be a bit hefty, though, and I'm not sure the performance would be that great, because there's just so much hashing power already in the Bitcoin network.

I'm sure you're better off mining Litecoin, Dogecoin or Feathercoin anyways. But well, there's no USB ASIC miner for scrypt cryptocurrencies, so you're out of luck for those alts.

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Posted 2014-02-15T12:09:50.143

Reputation: 96

The original idea is work with ASIC (looking for something cheaper). I'm studying all possibilities and costs at the moment, even if it has so much hashing power in the bitcoin network, it can still be a good business if measure correct how to apply that. That is what I'm doing now. Thanks for your valuable information. – deepcell – 2014-02-15T23:53:43.400

Of course it's theoretically simple to convert solar to electricity and use electricity to mine alt-coins. But it's a business+engineering problem to determine if it's a money making proposition.

In a hot climate the cooling costs might offset the abundance of solar power (I don't know this, just throwing out things to consider). Understand at this point some very smart engineers and entrepreneurs are engaged in an arms race to economically mine alt-coins, like this operation in Iceland. I'd do some serious research into potential competition before investing in your own mining operation.

obelia

Posted 2014-02-15T12:09:50.143

Reputation: 316

It is all to consider for sure. Actually the place is tropical (Thailand and Burma) but we have water in abundance to cool down things. Like everything in life is so saturated! Thanks for the advice. – deepcell – 2014-02-15T23:43:53.313

You could maybe flip things around. And sell your solarpower as it's generated, to a local grid for payment in bitcoins?

AndyM

Posted 2014-02-15T12:09:50.143

Reputation: 189

Actually the generated power is for the farm, maybe we can sell the excess and use that money to invest in bitcoin. Good idea! Thanks. For sure it an option I will think about, since we have no power grid in the farm. It is all solar energy, then it is a bit difficult to put it in the grid, but always have a solution. Thanks again! – deepcell – 2014-02-16T22:45:56.673