What occurs when a rural African neighborhood generates extra electrical energy than it could actually use? Might Bitcoin mining flip unused hydropower right into a lifeline for native financial revival?
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Zengamina’s dimming imaginative and prescient finds a spark
Within the distant Ikelenge district of northwestern Zambia, a small hydroelectric plant has quietly been producing extra electrical energy than its surrounding villages may ever use.
Constructed within the early 2010s with $3 million in charitable funding, the 1-megawatt Zengamina facility was by no means supposed to generate revenue. Its goal was to energy a rural hospital, present electrical energy to houses and faculties, and assist the foundations of native growth.
For years, nevertheless, a lot of that electrical energy went unused. With a inhabitants of round 15,000 and minimal industrial or industrial exercise, the neighborhood lacked the infrastructure to soak up the excess.
In consequence, greater than half of the plant’s output was routinely diverted—despatched again into the river, successfully wasted.
By 2022, the undertaking was dealing with mounting challenges. Deliberate expansions have been on maintain, income had slipped beneath breakeven, and the imaginative and prescient of broader vitality entry was fading. Then, a brand new associate arrived with an unconventional resolution.
Gridless, a Nairobi-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining startup, deployed a cellular unit to the Zengamina website—basically a delivery container geared up with 120 ASIC mining machines.
Related on to the native mini-grid, the setup runs constantly, consuming extra energy that might in any other case go unused. In doing so, it converts stranded electrical energy right into a stream of Bitcoin.
At prevailing market charges, every machine generates roughly $5 per day, although returns fluctuate with the value of Bitcoin and mining issue. Gridless shares a portion of this income with the hydro plant, now contributing near a 3rd of Zengamina’s whole revenue.
This monetary enhance has had sensible results. Electrical energy tariffs have dropped, new households have been linked, and the plant is now working nearer to its full capability—serving the neighborhood extra successfully than earlier than.
Nonetheless, a broader query stays: is that this a one-off success, or may this mannequin supply a scalable path for rural electrification in areas the place typical financial incentives are missing? Let’s dig in.
Gridless rigs supply a plug-and-play repair
Zengamina isn’t an remoted case. Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, small-scale vitality tasks typically run into the identical drawback: loads of energy, not sufficient folks to make use of it.
Mini-grids—usually constructed with donor funding or growth grants—often function beneath capability, not as a result of they fail to generate electrical energy, however as a result of there’s no industrial base to soak up it.
In keeping with the African Minigrid Builders Affiliation, greater than 65% of those programs stay commercially unviable, sustained by subsidies, carbon credit, or philanthropic capital.
Gridless is attempting to make that mannequin work with out exterior lifelines. The corporate has put in cellular Bitcoin mining items at six hydro websites throughout Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia—every one chosen for its skill to supply clear vitality in areas the place demand is just too low to assist the infrastructure by itself.
The mining rigs act as a sort of monetary shock absorber: they function constantly, no matter when or how a lot electrical energy the local people consumes, and convert otherwise-wasted vitality into income from day one.
At Zengamina, the outcomes have been instant. With a secure offtaker in place, the plant has expanded protection, lowered tariffs, and prolonged service into new components of the neighborhood.
Small companies—together with barbershops, kiosks, and web cafés—are staying open later. Web connectivity has improved. Electrical energy entry has gone from symbolic to useful.
Importantly, the association was by no means meant to be everlasting. Gridless views itself as a transitional participant. As family and industrial demand picks up, its position winds down.
Zengamina expects to connect with Zambia’s nationwide grid throughout the subsequent yr, opening the door to higher pricing by utility partnerships. When that occurs, the mining rig shall be eliminated, and Gridless will redeploy elsewhere.
The tremendous line between enhance and burden
Gridless is now searching for capital to develop its personal small-scale hydroelectric tasks, with a deal with run-of-river programs that don’t require dams and might function in distant, off-grid environments.
The corporate’s method is to combine Bitcoin mining from the outset—utilizing it as an preliminary income stream whereas native vitality demand step by step takes form.
Co-founder Janet Maingi describes this as a “consumer-driven, adaptive vitality mannequin,” one designed to start with mining however in the end transition towards long-term neighborhood electrification.
There may be proof to counsel that the mannequin may scale. The Worldwide Renewable Vitality Company (IRENA) estimates that Africa holds over 300 gigawatts of untapped hydropower potential, a lot of it situated in areas with restricted industrial exercise—areas usually missed by conventional vitality traders.
In such environments, Bitcoin miners may function early offtakers, monetizing energy infrastructure earlier than broader financial demand materializes.
Nevertheless, the idea shouldn’t be with out controversy. Some policymakers throughout the continent have expressed concern that mining may ultimately compete with native customers for electrical energy, particularly if Bitcoin costs surge and miners develop into extra aggressive in securing low-cost energy.
These considerations should not merely theoretical. In 2021, Kazakhstan skilled important disruptions after a wave of miners arrived following China’s crypto ban. Nationwide electrical energy consumption rose sharply—by 7% in a number of months—leading to blackouts, increased vitality costs, and, in the end, authorities intervention.
Comparable points have emerged in components of america. In New York and Texas, regulators have taken steps to restrict large-scale mining operations in periods of excessive grid demand.
Even smaller services have encountered stress. In early 2024, Greenidge Technology—a gas-powered mining plant in upstate New York—was briefly shut down throughout a chilly spell to release capability for residential heating.
The incident prompted regulatory businesses to start drafting pointers on when and the way miners ought to scale back exercise throughout vitality shortages.
Gridless maintains that its mannequin avoids these dangers. All of its operations are off-grid, powered by renewable sources, and developed in direct coordination with native communities.
The corporate additionally states that residential and industrial customers are at all times prioritized, and that mining is scaled again as native demand will increase.
Nonetheless, some observers observe that market incentives can shift rapidly. If Bitcoin costs rise dramatically—as some forecasts counsel—the monetary attraction of mining may immediate even off-grid operators to favor crypto income over neighborhood provide.
With out clear regulation or clear agreements on energy utilization, the identical method that originally helps rural growth may develop into a supply of friction.
Can this mannequin scale?
The outcomes seen at Zengamina have begun to attract consideration past Zambia. As world scrutiny over Bitcoin’s vitality consumption grows, an rising variety of off-grid vitality tasks are exploring mining as a monetary stabilizer—significantly in areas the place electrical energy is out there however stays underused.
Off-grid mining, as soon as thought-about area of interest or opportunistic, is gaining traction not just for its cleaner profile but in addition for its sensible benefits: it permits miners to sidestep regulatory constraints, keep away from peak-hour tariffs, and scale back publicity to political tensions tied to public grid infrastructure.
A number of real-world purposes are rising. Within the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Bitcoin mining operation powered by Virunga Nationwide Park’s hydro plant helps to fund conservation efforts and assist park operations.
In Ethiopia, the federal government has accepted electrical energy gross sales from the Grand Renaissance Dam to industrial mining corporations as a option to monetize extra capability and handle debt burdens.
Comparable exercise is underway in Paraguay and Suriname, the place hydroelectric technology continues to exceed home demand.
In such circumstances, the motivation construction is aligned. Vitality builders achieve a constant and instant income stream, whereas miners entry dependable, low-cost energy. These preparations usually require no subsidies and don’t rely on large-scale transmission infrastructure.
Nevertheless, these outcomes should not assured. They depend on clearly outlined agreements—making certain neighborhood entry is prioritized, revenue-sharing is clear, and provisions exist to exit mining operations when various makes use of for the vitality come up.
Gridless, for example, plans to finish its Zengamina operation as soon as the plant connects to Zambia’s nationwide grid, as promoting electrical energy on to the utility is predicted to supply larger long-term returns.
This phase-out is a core function of the Gridless mannequin. Mining serves as a short lived monetary mechanism—bridging the hole till native demand matures. The gear is moveable and designed to be redeployed elsewhere as soon as its goal is fulfilled.
What this implies shouldn’t be that Bitcoin mining resolves deeper vitality challenges, however that below sure situations, it could actually function a transitional instrument—monetizing stranded or surplus energy that may in any other case go unused. It supplies a option to activate infrastructure fairly than letting it sit idle.
With Bitcoin now buying and selling close to $88,000 and mining profitability dealing with tighter margins worldwide, extra corporations are turning to distant areas in quest of low-cost, regulation-light vitality sources.
In areas with obtainable capability however restricted funding, this mannequin may scale—quietly and pragmatically—if allowed the operational area to take action.
