Recently, it came to my attention that "China made so many solar panels that even its own grid can't support all the energy produced". The linked article also states that "Germany, too, has been producing so much solar energy that energy prices have fallen into negative territory when output peaks".
Another well known and well described issue is that cryptocurrency mining is notoriously infamous for having a very problematic #CO2 footprint, as, for example, "67% of the electricity consumed for Bitcoin mining in 2020–2021 was produced from fossil energy sources".
Putting one and one together, I wonder whether it wouldn't be a rather obvious solution for countries with large clean energy capabilities to use excess solar or wind power to run state-powered cryptocurrency mining farms to harvest that energy in a useful way. If it's very windy and clean power from wind turbines is available, simply turn on all the mining hardware you have. If it's very sunny and clean power from photovoltaic cells is abundant, just do the same. It's neither windy nor sunny? Well, turn the mining hardware off and wait for better weather conditions.
And, of course, the mined cryptocurrencies could be sold to help finance schools, roads, railroads, you name it. I'm not aware of any country on this planet, which is actively pursuing such a strategy at the moment. I wonder why. Are there any logical flaws in my thinking or am I not seeing some practical issues that might arise if such a scheme is implemented as a large-scale solution?
I'm curious to read any arguments for or against this proposition. Let me know about your thoughts.
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