Bitcoin mining brings more than money to this East African country

cointelegraph.com:

A Bitcoin (BTC) mining project that taps into clean, stranded and excess hydro energy in Malawi has picked up steam. The company behind the project, Gridless, shared that there are now “1600 families connected to this remote hydro mini-grid in the mountains of southern Malawi.”

1600 families connected to this remote hydro minigrid in the mountains of southern Malawi. They have 50kW of stranded energy that we are testing out as a new Bitcoin mining site. Videos for context. Still working on venting, wiring, etc. pic.twitter.com/Sxf8ABGPWH

The project exploits 50 Kilowatt (kW) of stranded energy to test out as a new Bitcoin mining site. Erik Hersman, CEO and co-founder of Gridless, told Cointelegraph that while it’s a brand new mining project, the “Impact was immediately felt.”

Bitcoin miners are flexible but energy-hungry clients. They are a plug in and play solution for sources of excess energy around the world. In Malawi, the miners run off environmentally-friendly hydropower.

In Hersman's words:

It’s Gridless’ second project in Sub-Saharan African to date. Late last year, a mining project in Kenya connected a remote community using excess hydropower.

The environment aside, the Bitcoin mine brings economic empowerment and job opportunities to Malawi. Hersman explained that electricity load shedding is common in Malawi, but the 1600 families using the hydropower source do not have any power issues:

Obi Nwosu, CEO of Fedimint and a Board Adviser at Gridless also shed light on the story, explaining that the project in "Malawi is one more in a line of what I expect to be many examples over the coming years."

Bitcoin miners tapping into stranded energy while empowering local communities is a growing trend in 2023. From El