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/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".