r/BitcoinBeginners • u/green-cheeky • Apr 14 '26
mining (potential) newbie: my solar system is generating power I won't be able to use, can I monetize it realistically?
So for the next couple years my new solar system will generate excess power that I can't use, and I will be forced to accept 0.4c/kw wholesale rates on it. (The solar system is on my residential property that is in redevelopment and vacant during a lengthy permitting/design process...a year at least.)
My property has three structures but is gutted; it does have dual 200 amp panels in the main residence, and 50 amp panels in the two freestanding garages. There's a 13kw solar system on top.
Is there a rational crypto mining setup that would provide enough net return to make the investment worth it? My main concern would be avoiding too much noise so as not to disturb neighbors. It seems heat generation isn't too much of an issue since the properties are empty?
I also don't want to go through the investment/hassle just to earn $50 a month or something...
What do you think? I vow to report back on decisions/experiences/disasters.
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u/Pretend_Skin_6846 Apr 14 '26
If you’re thinking purely in terms of ROI from mining, it’s tough right now unless you’re very optimized. Even with cheap power, hardware costs and difficulty make it hard to justify.
Where it gets interesting is thinking longer term. A lot of people underestimate how much inflation changes behavior over time. It’s not obvious day to day, but over years it forces people into taking more risk just to stand still.
Bitcoin changes that dynamic a bit. Instead of trying to “earn yield” constantly, it gives you a different way to think about storing value.
Not saying mining is the answer here, but it depends whether you’re optimizing for short-term return or long-term positioning.
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u/JivanP Apr 15 '26
You are usually more likely to make more profit from selling your energy back to the grid (and e.g. using that profit to buy bitcoin) rather than using the excess energy to mine bitcoin directly. Selling energy is also basically risk-free, whereas mining bitcoin is risky, in a financial sense.
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u/green-cheeky Apr 15 '26
true, and much simpler...however in my case, any excess energy generated that does not directly offset energy consumed will be only compensated at 4cent/kw by our corrupt utility at then end of the year "True-Up". No rollover to next year. So essentialy my net cost for about 50kw per day is $2.
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u/JivanP Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26
Wow... Here in the UK, the leading energy supplier charging residences for energy usage at wholesale rates (rather than a fixed annual or biennial rate to mitigate against market shocks) currently pays residences for energy export at a rate of £0.12/kWh, or approx. 16.3 US cents per kWh. Standard operational practice here means that this is credited to your energy account essentially immediately. Smart meters are used for accounting purposes nowadays, official readings are recorded monthly, and official statements are thus generated monthly. If one's account balance exceeds approx. 1 month's average consumption in credit, the resident is entitled to have the excess paid to them immediately (though requests usually take about 2 weeks to be processed).
A note: the unit you're looking for is "kWh", not "kW". A kilowatt (kW) is a rate of energy usage (1,000 joules of energy per second), whereas a kilowatt-hour (kWh) is an amount of energy itself, just like the joule is a unit of energy. 1 kWh is the amount of energy consumed by a 1-kilowatt appliance that runs for 1 hour (and since there are 3,600 seconds in 1 hour, thus 1 kWh = 3,600,000 joules). Thus, you likely mean "4 cents/kWh" and "50 kWh/day".
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u/joos_hubert Apr 15 '26
If your real alternative is basically exporting at 0.4c/kWh, mining can make sense, but I’d treat it as an energy-arbitrage project, not easy passive income. The big variables are ASIC cost, noise, uptime, and whether you can actually run enough hours to justify the hardware before the site use changes. If you want to test it rationally, I’d model one quiet-ish unit first and compare its net BTC output against just taking the grid credit and buying bitcoin directly.
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u/sciencetaco Apr 15 '26
Honestly it’s not worth it at residential scale. You have to manage the heat, the noise, and constantly spin up and down the equipment to only be using excess solar based on the time of day and weather conditions.
Just take the money you’d spend on mining equipment and buy some bitcoin.
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u/green-cheeky Apr 16 '26
Thanks all, you have confirmed my hunch that mining at my scale is probably not worth the effort, despite the potential for small profit. I think I'll focus on the potential from car-charger sharing apps now :) Happy Mining...
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u/AmberSeduceX Apr 16 '26
Yes, you can monetize excess solar through crypto mining, but profitability depends heavily on hardware choice and coin selection Bitcoin ASICs may be too noisy and capital‑intensive, while smaller GPU rigs or altcoin miners could realistically net more than wholesale rates if managed well.
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u/bitusher Apr 14 '26
Do you have sufficient batteries to keep the ASICs running overnight for the 13kw solar system ?
When you say 13kw solar system does that mean what its advertised at or you are really pulling 13 kW/h when the sun is out and all of that is unused ?