Japan is following in the footsteps of Texas. Japanese energy company TEPCO has teamed up with semiconductor manufacturer TRIPLE-1 to recover its surplus renewable energy.
Big in Japan
The Tokyo Electric Power Company before its nationalization was the largest private electricity producer in the world. The company operates eleven nuclear reactors, hydroelectric power stations, wind farms, a geothermal power station and several thermal power stations.
The energy giant has just announced that it will now secure the Bitcoin network with its surplus renewable energy. To do this, he will use Triple-1 machines, a company specializing in semiconductors.
Like China’s Bitmain, Triple-1 produces ASICs specially dedicated to bitcoin mining. These machines are equipped with 7 nm chips manufactured by the Taiwanese TSMC.
This “Kamikaze II” ASIC consumes 28 watts per TH/s. Just as well as the best model of Bitmain, the S19 Pro. A fleet of 1300 kamikazes representing a power of 1.5 MW has already been installed in Tokyo.
Specifically, Agile Energy X, a subsidiary of Tepco, will oversee the operations. And according to the photos provided in his press release, it will be done thanks to containers that can be easily transported where there is an excess of electricity:
Bitcoin to beef up the power grid
TEPCO’s stated objective is to make more efficient use of its renewable energy surpluses throughout Japan. In fact, the mix of energy and Japan’s electricity grid is such that surpluses are common:
“For example, in the case of solar energy, it is easy for supply to exceed demand when electricity production is focused on sunny days and the electrical energy produced cannot be used. »
TEPCO also points out that grid congestion often makes it difficult to transport electricity.
These imperfections are linked to the deployment of renewable energy which has qualities, but also the flaw of being unpredictable. Renewable energy therefore often duplicates other sources of electricity that are difficult to control, such as nuclear power.
Hence the idea of using bitcoin mining to harness electricity that would otherwise be wasted. This is exactly what Texas is doing, which uses bitcoin miners to make its electricity network profitable and fine-tune demand management thanks to cancellation clauses.
The BTC mining industry has two major strengths. It can set up anywhere and stop operations in a fraction of a second during peak demand.
And during this time, in France, the boss of Exaion, a subsidiary of EDF, declares that he will not send “never in bitcoin mining”they would rather run Ethereum nodes…
No one should be surprised to find themselves in the dark this winter when we see the level of thinking of the amateurs involved in EDF today.
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Journalist reporting on the Bitcoin revolution. My papers deal with bitcoin through geopolitical, economic and libertarian prisms.
