TL;DR
- Deutsche Telekom and Bankhaus Metzler launch a pilot Bitcoin mining project in Germany using surplus renewable energy.
- The project aims to stabilize the power grid during fluctuations by using Bitcoin mining as a “flexible load.”
- The initiative, called “Digital Monetary Photosynthesis,” converts excess energy into digital value, providing data for future energy applications.
Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s largest telecommunications company, has announced the launch of a pilot project in Germany in collaboration with private bank Bankhaus Metzler to explore Bitcoin mining using surplus renewable energy.
This experimental program primarily aims to study the possibility of using the mining process to stabilize the power grid during fluctuations, leveraging renewable energy that would otherwise go unused due to storage and distribution limitations on the grid.
The project, named “Digital Monetary Photosynthesis,” will be conducted at the facilities of Riva GmbH Engineering in Backnang, a German company with its own photovoltaic energy generation system. Telekom MMS, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, will manage the mining devices, while Metis Solutions GmbH will be responsible for the miners’ infrastructure. Bankhaus Metzler, in turn, will focus on analyzing the data obtained during the pilot and identifying possible applications of the assets generated through Bitcoin mining.
Telekom: Converting Excess Energy into Digital Value
The proposal addresses a challenge faced by the energy sector during the transition to renewable sources, such as solar and wind power, which generate energy production peaks irregularly and often exceed the grid’s absorption capacity. Bitcoin mining equipment can act as a “flexible load,” quickly adjusting to changes in energy availability and consuming excess energy that would otherwise be lost. This technique has already been tested in countries like the United States and Finland, where it has proven useful in balancing supply and demand on the grid.
Oliver Nyderle, Head of Digital Trust and Web3 Infrastructure at Deutsche Telekom MMS, emphasized the need to develop innovative methods that can immediately respond to energy variations generated by renewable sources. Through Bitcoin mining, excess energy could be converted into digital value, allowing for useful application of surpluses and contributing to grid stability during times of high energy production.
Since 2020, Deutsche Telekom has supported decentralized networks such as Chainlink, Fetch.ai, and Polygon and has started operating a Bitcoin node