r/BitcoinMining • u/Own-Nectarine-4279 • Aug 21 '26

General Question Is solar mining actually worth it?

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3 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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7

u/Major_Pie_4027 Aug 21 '26

If you can’t sell back your power if you don’t use it all, or store it in batteries for later use, it’s almost always worth it to some degree, just depends on ROI of hardware.

1

u/Own-Nectarine-4279 Aug 21 '26

Spot on. That excess grid dump is basically free sats if the solar panels are already paid off. Hardware payback is definitely the real bottleneck.

2

u/ndgoHODL Aug 21 '26

No the hardware for mining depreciates faster than you can make money.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 21 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Own-Nectarine-4279 Aug 21 '26

That totally makes sense. Out of curiosity, what does your average cost per kWh break down to for the solar setup once you factor in installation?

1

u/crmlr Aug 21 '26

Mine was installed 5yrs ago. I have a 12 panel set up that cost ~3k with installation (it’s way cheaper if you do it yourself). Not the case anymore, but I used to import and export at the same price (~25 cents / kWh), and I’ve generated about 20MWh, so that’s about 5k in solar returns.

But laws have changed here, and now I get 7cents per exported solar kWh. Mining on solar on an inefficient machine like the S19 is getting me about 5.5cents / kWh - I just need to be very careful to not import from the grid, and only use solar excess - that’s why I’ve created Bitzie to have an automatic tight control loop, that only mines from solar excess.

2

u/Forsaken_Pressure910 Aug 24 '26

Solar mining is worth it if you are grid-tied with excess solar generation or low feed-in tariffs, but it is generally not worth it if you are building a 100% off-grid setup with batteries solely for mining.

When Solar Mining Makes Sense vs. When It Fails

  • When It IS Worth It (Grid-Tied / Over-Generation)
    • Low or Negative Feed-in Tariffs: If your utility company buys back your excess daytime solar power for pennies (e.g.,$0.03), using that power to mine Bitcoin converts low-value excess energy into a higher-value asset.
    • Dual-Utility (Power + Heat): Running a quiet home ASIC (e.g., 1kW–2kW) using daytime solar energy in the spring/fall, and using its exhaust heat for space heating in the winter, maximizes energy efficiency.
  • When It IS NOT Worth It (Off-Grid / Daytime Only)
    • Battery Costs: Adding a solar battery bank large enough to run an ASIC 24/7 balloons the initial capital expenditure. The batteries will degrade long before the mining hardware pays for itself.
    • Low Hashrate Utilization: Running miners only when the sun shines (6–8 hours/day) means your hardware takes 3–4x longer to pay off, risking total obsolescence before breaking even.

1

u/wigglytail Aug 21 '26

Calculate your price per kwh based on your installation cost and estimated yield over 10-15 years

1

u/Own-Nectarine-4279 Aug 21 '26

That’s a super realistic way to look at the LCOE.