Techno-economic, and environmental evaluations of a novel cogeneration system based on solar energy and cryptocurrency mining

Abstract

Today, earning money through cryptocurrency mining, especially in developing countries such as Iran, is rapidly expanding due to the low value of the national currency in comparison with the world's major currencies. But illegal mining, high power consumption of the mining system, and the resulting environmental consequences are among the challenges facing this industry in Iran. Therefore, in this study to solve these problems, the simultaneous generation of electricity and mining of Ethereum cryptocurrency with a legal approach through power supply of the system by a 5.2 kWp grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) rooftop system as well as its technical, economic, and environmental analysis are considered. The results show that the proposed PV rooftop system can supply 83% of the consumed AC electricity of the mining system per year and prevent the annual emissions of 5.5 tCO2 to the atmosphere simultaneously. Also, the desirability of the payback period and the ratio of benefit to cost, positive net present value (NPV) index as well as attractive internal rate of return (IRR) index, all show the usefulness of the project. Finally, the cumulative cash flow value of this project at the end of its lifespan will be $ 478038, which is a significant amount.