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Comment by r00fus | Hacker News Reader

I can imagine that if proof-of-work remains a prevailing feature of popular blockchain systems, setting up e.g. bitcoin mining operation off near-free solar would be a nice passive income stream.

How fast can modern ASIC hardware pay for itself if mining?

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I already operate a small scale operation near my hometown in India which is almost self sufficient (powered by wind and solar). For deficit, we have connection to the grid but it is rarely used save for rainy season.

Very interesting. Can you please provide more details on your setup. I would love to know more as I am interested in doing something similar.

Power is largely fungible, though. It doesn't merely need to pay for itself eventually, it needs to pay better than simply selling the power.

It's not a completely crazy idea. Building transmission infrastructure to connect remote solar farms to load centers can be a significant part of the project cost and timeline. Crypto-mining on a detached solar farm could export its financial value over a low-capacity wireless data link instead of heavy wires and towers. It might have more siting flexibility than projects that plan to deliver electricity to existing load centers. Of course it would just intensify the red queen's race among the crypto-miners.

For historical precedent: whiskey distillation was often used as a cheaper-to-transport alternative to shipping and selling grain amongst American farmers in the 18th and 19th century.

Similarly, bitcoin is much easier to ship places than electrical kilowatt-hours are.

The thing with crypto mining is you really need 24/7 electricity. Difficulty increases all the time and if you don't break even ASAP your hardware will become obsolete before you start making money. Solar panels can't do 24/7 without very expensive batteries.

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