Energy Companies Are Perfectly Situated to Invest in Bitcoin Mining
If you're in an industry that produces energy, then bitcoin mining can be an extremely lucrative investment. Aside from the cost of hardware and maintenance, electricity is practically the only facet of cryptocurrency mining that dramatically impacts profit margins. If you’re already a profitable producer of electricity or have access to wholesale electric pricing, then it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll have a serious advantage over those who are forced to deal with standard rates.
Despite this being a fairly simple concept, it wasn’t until recently that a convergence of the BTC mining industry and energy companies began to unfold. In the past year or so, power suppliers within the state of Texas have taken center stage in this new crypto-integration of the energy sector. Many state politicians, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, have lauded the potential benefits that BTC mining will have on their electrical grid and their economy as a whole. And dozens of energy producers and BTC mining organizations have already begun to create hybridized models for repurposing “stranded energy” to turn a healthy profit.
This newfound trend is picking up a lot of steam within the renewable energy space, particularly with hydro, wind, and thermal power producers. Asset managers within each of these energy sector subsets have begun to take notice of the potential that BTC mining has to offer. At the same time, pre-established Bitcoin mining operations are looking toward these renewable producers as a means to reduce electricity costs while simultaneously shirking some of the climate-driven criticisms that they’ve previously been forced to endure.
Is Coupling BTC Mining With Energy Production a Net Positive?
Despite having a decent amount of political support, there are several ongoing debates as to whether or not BTC mining within the energy sector will strengthen the grid and/or lessen the environmental impact. One key criticism is that “excess” or “stranded” energy is not a real thing. For example, an article published in Popular Science states that the use of “excess renewable energy” to power BTC miners essentially takes that resource from other potential outlets.
This sentiment might be true if we had the ability to produce, store, and transmit power indefinitely. In reality, whenever energy consumption is lower than average, there is a substantial amount of power that gets “stranded” and then ultimately wasted over time. Still, that brings us to the next objection to the marriage of BTC mining and the energy industry.
Some people, including House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., have noted that Bitcoin mining requires a tremendous amount of power and that if it becomes more profitable than selling electricity to consumers, it could have negative impacts further downstream. While that argument is ostensibly valid, it doesn’t take into consideration the fact that BTC mining is fundamentally designed to become harder over time and therefore will almost certainly never exceed the profitability of wholesale electricity sales when the demand is present.
In truth, all of these criticisms are missing the point to some extent. We currently have an energy sector that often produces more power than can be consumed, stored, or transmitted elsewhere for later use. Sure, in the longer term we should be focusing on purely renewable energy sources and limiting the amount of power wasted as a whole. In the meantime, however, it makes perfect sense to turn that excess energy into a healthy profit whenever possible.
Take oil extraction within the Texas Permian Basin as an example. As Senator Ted Cruz notes, this region accounts for “fifty percent of the natural gas in this country that is ‘flared’”. Flaring is the process of burning natural gas during the extraction of crude oil and we currently have no efficient means for extracting and consuming that energy within our nation's electrical grids. Regardless of your thoughts on Ted Cruz, this is a realistic depiction of the current state of our energy production. Whether you’re a producer of renewable or nonrenewable energy, it makes both financial & environmental sense to put your excess power to use as best as you can.
Diversifying Assets & Mitigating Risks Using Bitcoin Mining Within the Energy Sector
BTC Mining offers electricity producers a way to maximize the overall value of their output. Whether that’s through leveraging partnerships with existing Bitcoin mining operations or by establishing facilities that run on your excess energy, BTC mining is proving to be a highly profitable way for energy sector professionals to diversify their revenue streams and mitigate risk.
At Crypto Knight Hosting, we’ve been working directly with government officials in Wyoming, including the aforementioned Senator Cynthia Lummis, to establish our state-of-the-art ASIC BTC miner hosting facilities that are as energy-efficient as possible. We offer hosting services with incredibly competitive electricity rates that include setup, full-time maintenance and support, as well as live dashboarding for real-time performance tracking and updates.
At the same time, we operate as a procurement resource for those of you hoping to purchase and host your ASIC miners on your own terms. We’re prepared to work with you to determine if and how you should set up your own facilities. If you’re involved in the production of energy and would like to start mining BTC, then we can help you create a system that’s highly efficient and profitable.