Re: Mining: Adding Solar Home Now, as "Mining Hedge" for future 2020 miners?
Every place is different based on laws, tax treatment, and incentives. In no scenario where I live has producing more than I use to sell back to the utility making any sense. They buy back at the wholesale rate where I live so I am giving away power at a price way below it cost me to produce.
So I would only size your solar for your own needs. Also with the power hungry nature of mining you can really only hope to offset a small amount of power demand in a home setting. So if you look at it from a perspective of reducing the cost per KWH for mining then maybe it can be used in that way.
I have solar at my home that I built myself and the reality is that it really only offsets a tiny portion of my electric use. That being said I did it for my own convictions and not from an economic value perspective and I will do it again when I move to my next home as well.
Having solar, some sort of redundant power supply for emergencies, and even the ability to charge an electric car all are things that are quite appealing to me personally so would rather focus on those aspects more so than the mining side of it. Quality of life sort of things.
So I would only size your solar for your own needs. Also with the power hungry nature of mining you can really only hope to offset a small amount of power demand in a home setting. So if you look at it from a perspective of reducing the cost per KWH for mining then maybe it can be used in that way.
I have solar at my home that I built myself and the reality is that it really only offsets a tiny portion of my electric use. That being said I did it for my own convictions and not from an economic value perspective and I will do it again when I move to my next home as well.
Having solar, some sort of redundant power supply for emergencies, and even the ability to charge an electric car all are things that are quite appealing to me personally so would rather focus on those aspects more so than the mining side of it. Quality of life sort of things.
Yeah, that is the catch. IF for example, I got a 9KW or can put up on my flat roof (if my calcs are right) for 30k cost and real cost would be 21k after rebates/tax credit etc.
(for all I know that such rebates would disappear under the Trump Admin in 2020 anyway, which comes under the heading of 'not good'). Anyway without mining for electric, say for math I'd use 1k or so. Thus around 7k left to apply to crypto mining. Or a massive excess that I'd need to blow on a Tesla/Batteries and/or electric dry sauna.
At 21k say cost, after rebates for 9KW an equivalent say the 5KW system would only be like around at most $5,000 less or around say $15,000. Thus, it makes little sense for me to downsize or even get solar at the 5kw rate. At that point, I'm talking just the addition in cost for solar panels to get me up to the 9KW stuff.
There is a 'limit' on how low I can go that even makes sense to do this, even without the mining coming into play.
So normal Solar, no mining at the 9kw rate would take say, 15 years to pay off.
With the 'supposed' mining angle, I'd be looking at, if 'lucky' 7-8 years instead. Thus the only way solar would work for me without the mining and/or as a 'hedge' to put some crypto in something, in case the price dumps again some (at whatever point I sell crypto for the solar) well, I'd need to get a Tesla and an electric dry sauna to justify the 15 year solar from crypto install.
Pretty muddied. But for 1/2 the price of a new 'budget priced' car and as a 'hedge' for taking some crypto out and using it for something 'useful' that 'supposedly' I could get some mining benefit from (delusional perhaps) this solar install idea.
If nothing else it is a pretty good 'thought experiment' along the lines of what I used to do with thinking I either should get ASIC equipment or not back in the day. This solar angle is MORE complex and again in a large part it is based on an 'assumption' that I could get next generation (or hell even current generation) miners that would make sense heat and noise wise in my basement with this whole 'dubious' solar half-assed plan.
Stuff to do
Brad