Crypto
Renewable Mining Model Still Loses Money Despite 30% Annual Bitcoin Price Growth
A new study from the Technological University of the Shannon has found that even if Bitcoin's price rises by 30% per year, a renewable mining model still loses money due to increasing global hashrate.
The researchers modeled a 20 MW Bitcoin mine connected to a hypothetical 100 MW Irish wind farm using hourly market data from 2024. They found that at current prices below €60,000, the project fails to recover its investment within six years under any curtailment scenario they ran.
However, if Bitcoin's price reaches €80,000 or higher, the project becomes profitable, with payback times ranging from 2.13 to 3.56 years depending on the amount of wind that is curtailed.