Unlocking Solar-led Electrification With Bitcoin
Over the last 10 years, Bitcoin mining has evolved from a hobbyist activity to a multi-billion-dollar industry. Unsurprisingly, this has stunned academics, governments, and entrepreneurs alike, leaving everyone grasping to understand what's happening and where this industry is heading, especially as it relates to climate change.
Since Bitcoin’s inception, it has grown to consume massive amounts of energy. However, unlike other energy assets, Bitcoin mining is location and time-agnostic, interruptible, portable, and easily scalable, making it an energy consumer that can soak up stranded energy and finance new renewable energy buildouts.
For example, in regions with high solar adoption, an unfortunate paradox has emerged: there’s too much solar for the grid, limiting future installations from exporting power and reducing the economies of scale. This is already unfolding in places like California and islands such as Hawaii. In a world where homeowners are ramping up electricity demand via electric vehicles, heat pumps, and induction cooking, more robust solutions are needed.
Join us on April 23rd at Presidio Bitcoin, a Bitcoin co-working and event space in the heart of the Presidio, as we confront this challenge directly. At this event, panelists will share how Bitcoin miners can act as temporary electricity buyers to enable larger, more profitable solar installations, supporting home electrification and lowering electricity costs.
Panelists include:
Ali Chehrehsaz: Ali is a founding member and CEO at Optimize Infrastructure, a company utilizing Bitcoin mining to increase solar deployment worldwide. He is a mechanical engineer and has been working in solar for over 16 years.
Adam Gerza. Adam has been in the renewable energy industry for over 15 years and is an expert in modeling the effects of utility rate designs and net energy metering frameworks on the economics of distributed energy projects. Adam was a founding team member and executive at Energy Toolbase, an industry-leading software platform in the distributed solar and storage space. Adam has been a bitcoin enthusiast since 2019.
Andrew Krause: As CEO of Northern Pacific Power Systems, Andrew advances next-generation business models for residential solar and electrification in California. He also co-leads the Agile Electrification project at UC San Diego Design Lab, uniting industry and academia to solve solar challenges.
Max Webster will be moderating the panel discussion. Max is the founder of Hivemind Ventures. He has a decade of experience as an early stage venture capitalist, angel investor, and startup founder and is passionate about spreading decentralized money (bitcoin), internet, and energy (solar + DERs) for the world.
If this sounds like fanciful thinking to you, then all the more reason to come!
By registering for this event, you agree to share your registration information with the organizers of SF Climate Week.