Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), Japan’s largest electricity provider, has started mining bitcoin through its subsidiary Agile Energy x using excess renewable energy that would otherwise go to waste. According to Asahi reports.
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BREAKING NEWS: Japan's largest power company, TEPCO, is extracting… twitter.com/hashtag/bitcoin?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#bitcoin using surplus energy. image.twitter.com/ZrsmbV7mv6
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With more than 27 million residential and commercial customers, TEPCO founded Agile Energy in 2022 and is now exploring bitcoin mining powered by surplus renewable energy. The subsidiary has installed mining rigs alongside solar farms in Japan’s Gunma and Tochigi prefectures.
The initiative helps reduce the waste of green energy from solar and wind farms, which are forced to reduce their output to avoid overloading Japan's power grid. This energy is now being diverted to generate bitcoins.
“Green energy producers have to operate their businesses assuming that some of the energy they generate is wasted,” said Agile Energy President Kenji Tateiwa“If bitcoins were to provide a new source of revenue for similar energy producers, who are exposed to overinvestment, that would drive the introduction of more green energy.”
The project demonstrates how bitcoin mining can incentivize the growth of renewable energy by providing producers with additional revenue streams. Tateiwa said bitcoin profits could encourage more investment in clean energy to boost mining.
Other countries are also taking advantage of excess renewable energy for bitcoin mining, such as El Salvador, which uses its geothermal energy. This dispels the myth that bitcoin is dangerous for the environment, as much of the mining uses energy that would otherwise be wasted.
More and more companies and countries are figuring out how to turn waste and surplus energy into the hardest cash on the planet. As more renewable energy is used, bitcoin mining will help reduce energy waste and emissions.
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