The company uses electricity from volcanoes to mine Bitcoin and light up 5,000 households

Gridless, a company that specializes in harnessing solar energy and other natural energy sources to mine Bitcoin, has exploited volcanic heat in Kenya to mine Bitcoin, while also providing electricity to thousands of homes.

Gridless is backed by Block - a digital payments company founded and run by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.

There is a volcano that has stopped working but still has a large heat source located in Hell's Gate National Park, two and a half hours drive north of Kenya's capital Nairobi. Gridless has come and exploited this heat source.

Erik Hersman, 48, CEO of Gridless, said the company will have excess electricity during some hours of the day because the volcano can generate electricity of about 50 kilowatts, then up to 300 kilowatts day and night.

The company supplies excess electricity to thousands of households in Africa, including 5,000 homes in Kenya. In addition, the company's Bitcoin mining zones also serve charging stations for electric motorbikes, public wifi spots, and cold storage containers for local farmers.

The company uses electricity from volcanoes to mine Bitcoin and light up 5,000 households Picture 1

Gridless placed a portable, container-sized machine next to Lake Naivasha. It can generate 500 kilowatts of electricity, mainly serving Bitcoin's algorithmic block decoding and transaction validation process.

Bitcoin mining using volcanic energy has been implemented by Iceland, El Salvador and several other countries. Bitcoin mining consumes so much electricity that it has a bad reputation for being environmentally destructive. Therefore, using renewable electricity can help change perceptions about this activity.

Companies like Gridless choose to sell excess electricity to households when exploiting large heat sources like Hell's Gate.

According to the International Energy Agency, more than 80% of the population in rural Africa lives without electricity. However, activities like Gridless have not received support.

Samuel Daniel

Update 23 April 2024