Bitcoin mining brings more than money to this East African country

A Bitcoin mining project in a remote corner of Malawi, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa, connects more families to the grid while delivering economic empowerment to an impoverished region. 1507 Total views 10 Total shares Listen to article 0:00 News Own this piece of history

Collect this article as an NFT A Bitcoin (BTC) mining project that taps into clean, stranded and excess hydro energy in Malawi has picked up steam. The company behind the project, Gridless, shared that there are now 1600 families connected to this remote hydro mini-grid in the mountains of southern Malawi.

1600 families connected to this remote hydro minigrid in the mountains of southern Malawi. They have 50kW of stranded energy that we are testing out as a new Bitcoin mining site.

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Still working on venting, wiring, etc. pic.twitter.com/Sxf8ABGPWH— Gridless (@GridlessCompute) January 21, 2023

The project exploits 50 Kilowatt (kW) of stranded energy to test out as a new Bitcoin mining site. Erik Hersman, CEO and co-founder of Gridless, told Cointelegraph that while its a brand new mining project, the Impact was immediately felt.The power developer had built these powerhouses a few years ago, but they werent able to expand to more families because theyre barely profitable and couldnt afford to buy more meters to connect more families. So our deal allowed for them to immediately buy 200 more meters to connect more families.

Bitcoin miners are flexible but energy-hungry clients. They are a plug in and play solution for sources of excess energy around the world. In Malawi, the miners run off environmentally-friendly hydropower.The facility runs off hydropower. Source: Hersman

In Hersman’s words:The environmental footprint is quite light as it is run off a river. And the Bitcoin mining didnt change any of that.

Its Gridless second project in Sub-Saharan African to date. Late last year, a mining project in Kenya connected a remote community using excess hydropower. Street sellers in Malawi. Source: Hersman

The environment aside, the Bitcoin mine brings economic empowerment and job opportunities to Malawi. Hersman explained that electricity load shedding is common in Malawi, but the 1600 families using the hydropower source do not have any power issues: Its always amazing to me to see how useful and valuable mini-grids are to the community. It [Bitcoin mining] immediately changes the education, healthcare, business, logistics, and wealth of the community where they go in.

Obi Nwosu, CEO of Fedimint and a Board Adviser at Gridless also shed light on the story, explaining that the project in “Malawi is one more in a line of what I expect to be many examples over the coming years.”As usual, these are modest people rolling up their sleeves and helping talented, local engineers do what they do best. The project brings power as well as financial and economic freedom to many.

Bitcoin miners tapping into stranded energy while empowering local communities is a growing trend in 2023. From El Salvadors promise of geothermal Bitcoin mining to balancing the grid load and sustaining jobs for local communities in Canada there is a Torrent of opportunities coming their way, Nwosu explains.

Related:Seven times Bitcoin miners made the world a better place

Michael Saylor has described Bitcoin mining as the ideal high-tech industry to put in a nation that has plenty of clean energy but isnt able to export a product or produce a service with that energy. Its an accurate summation of the project in Malawi.Canal channeling water in Malawi. Source: Hersman

Ultimately, this type of Bitcoin mining projects is more akin to a partnership. Hersman sums it up: We work with the power producer, and they work to keep the power price affordable and all of their employees are from the community too, providing jobs for everything from security to linesmen to operations. #Bitcoin #Africa #Adoption #Bitcoin Mining #Hydrominer #Renewable Energy #Hydropower Related News How to store Bitcoin on MetaMask Bitcoin ASIC miner prices hovering at lows not seen in years 1.5M houses could be powered by the energy Texas miners returned Nigerian innovator launches first active Bitcoin Lightning node in the country El Salvador passes landmark crypto bill, paving way for Bitcoin-backed bonds