Tokyo Electricity Company (TEPCO), Japanese largest electricity supplier, has started mining Bitcoin through its subsidiary Agile Energy X, using excess renewable energy that would otherwise go to waste, according to reports from Asahi.
JUST IN: 🇯🇵 Japan’s largest energy company TEPCO is mining #Bitcoin use of excess energy. photo.twitter.com/ZrsmbV7mv6
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 9, 2024
With more than 27 million residential and business customers, TEPCO founded Agile Energy in 2022 and is now exploring Bitcoin Mining powered by excess renewable energy. The subsidiary has installed mining platforms alongside solar farms in Japan’s Gunma and Tochigi prefectures.
The initiative helps reduce the waste of green energy from solar and wind farms, which are forced to limit production to avoid overloading the Japanese grid. This energy is now being redirected to generate Bitcoin.
“Green energy producers have to run their business on the assumption that some of the energy they generate is lost,” said Agile Energy President Kenji Tateiwa“If bitcoins offered a new source of revenue to similar energy producers, who are dealing with overinvestment, it would stimulate the introduction of more green energy.”
The project shows how Bitcoin mining can be an incentive renewable energy growth by providing producers with additional revenue streams. Tateiwa said Bitcoin gains could encourage further investment in clean energy to power mining.
Other countries are also using excess renewable energy sources for Bitcoin mining, such as El Salvadorwhich uses geothermal energy. This debunks the myth that Bitcoin is harmful to the environment, as much mining uses energy that would otherwise be wasted.
More and more companies and countries are figuring out how to turn waste and excess energy into the hardest money on earth. As more renewable energy sources come online, Bitcoin mining will help reduce wasted energy and emissions.