Daniel Roberts, co-founder and co-CEO of Bitcoin mining firm Iris Energy, shed light on how Bitcoin mining can play a crucial role in decarbonizing energy markets in an interview with The Block.
“This results in situations where wind and solar projects are built in remote, low-cost locations with ample sun or wind, generating renewable energy certificates that can be monetized, but with no immediate local demand, leading to idle assets,” Roberts added. Being able to shed load to balance energy grids has been very challenging for traditional industries, but Bitcoin mining is a powerful tool to solve the problem, Roberts argued.
“For example, a traditional data center historically works with 5-15kW rack density, compared to around 40kW per rack for GPU workloads. Our Bitcoin mining operations are running at approximately 70kW per rack,” Roberts continued. “The Bitcoin price around the time of the FTX collapse was hovering around $15,000. Bitcoin is trading around $35,000 today, a Bitcoin ETF is likely round the corner and we have the halving event coming up in 2024. Things have certainly improved materially over the last 12 months,” he said.