What occurs when a rural African group generates extra electrical energy than it might use? May Bitcoin mining flip unused hydropower right into a lifeline for native financial revival?
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Zengamina’s dimming imaginative and prescient finds a spark
Within the distant Ikelenge district of northwestern Zambia, a small hydroelectric plant has quietly been producing extra electrical energy than its surrounding villages might ever use.
Constructed within the early 2010s with $3 million in charitable funding, the 1-megawatt Zengamina facility was by no means supposed to generate revenue. Its goal was to energy a rural hospital, present electrical energy to houses and colleges, and assist the foundations of native growth.
For years, nonetheless, a lot of that electrical energy went unused. With a inhabitants of round 15,000 and minimal business or industrial exercise, the group lacked the infrastructure to soak up the excess.
Consequently, greater than half of the plant’s output was routinely diverted—despatched again into the river, successfully wasted.
By 2022, the mission was dealing with mounting challenges. Deliberate expansions had been on maintain, income had slipped beneath breakeven, and the imaginative and prescient of broader vitality entry was fading. Then, a brand new companion arrived with an unconventional resolution.
Gridless, a Nairobi-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining startup, deployed a cell unit to the Zengamina website—basically a transport container geared up with 120 ASIC mining machines.
Linked on to the native mini-grid, the setup runs repeatedly, consuming extra energy that may in any other case go unused. In doing so, it converts stranded electrical energy right into a stream of Bitcoin.
At prevailing market charges, every machine generates roughly $5 per day, although returns fluctuate with the worth of Bitcoin and mining issue. Gridless shares a portion of this income with the hydro plant, now contributing near a 3rd of Zengamina’s whole revenue.
This monetary enhance has had sensible results. Electrical energy tariffs have dropped, new households have been related, and the plant is now working nearer to its full capability—serving the group extra successfully than earlier than.
Nonetheless, a broader query stays: is that this a one-off success, or might this mannequin supply a scalable path for rural electrification in areas the place typical financial incentives are missing? Let’s dig in.
Gridless rigs supply a plug-and-play repair
Zengamina isn’t an remoted case. Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, small-scale vitality tasks usually run into the identical downside: loads of energy, not sufficient individuals to make use of it.
Mini-grids—usually constructed with donor funding or growth grants—regularly function beneath capability, not as a result of they fail to generate electrical energy, however as a result of there’s no industrial base to soak up it.
In line with the African Minigrid Builders Affiliation, greater than 65% of those methods stay commercially unviable, sustained by subsidies, carbon credit, or philanthropic capital.
Gridless is making an attempt to make that mannequin work with out exterior lifelines. The corporate has put in cell Bitcoin mining models at six hydro websites throughout Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia—each chosen for its capacity to provide clear vitality in areas the place demand is simply too low to assist the infrastructure by itself.
The mining rigs act as a type of monetary shock absorber: they function repeatedly, no matter when or how a lot electrical energy the local people consumes, and convert otherwise-wasted vitality into income from day one.
At Zengamina, the outcomes have been speedy. With a steady offtaker in place, the plant has expanded protection, diminished tariffs, and prolonged service into new components of the group.
Small companies—together with barbershops, kiosks, and web cafés—are staying open later. Web connectivity has improved. Electrical energy entry has gone from symbolic to practical.
Importantly, the association was by no means meant to be everlasting. Gridless views itself as a transitional participant. As family and business demand picks up, its position winds down.
Zengamina expects to connect with Zambia’s nationwide grid inside the subsequent yr, opening the door to raised pricing via utility partnerships. When that occurs, the mining rig can be eliminated, and Gridless will redeploy elsewhere.
The tremendous line between enhance and burden
Gridless is now in search of capital to develop its personal small-scale hydroelectric tasks, with a deal with run-of-river methods that don’t require dams and may function in distant, off-grid environments.
The corporate’s method is to combine Bitcoin mining from the outset—utilizing it as an preliminary income stream whereas native vitality demand step by step takes form.
Co-founder Janet Maingi describes this as a “consumer-driven, adaptive vitality mannequin,” one designed to start with mining however in the end transition towards long-term group electrification.
There may be proof to recommend that the mannequin might scale. The Worldwide Renewable Power Company (IRENA) estimates that Africa holds over 300 gigawatts of untapped hydropower potential, a lot of it situated in areas with restricted industrial exercise—areas usually neglected by conventional vitality traders.
In such environments, Bitcoin miners might function early offtakers, monetizing energy infrastructure earlier than broader financial demand materializes.
Nevertheless, the idea shouldn’t be with out controversy. Some policymakers throughout the continent have expressed concern that mining might finally compete with native customers for electrical energy, particularly if Bitcoin costs surge and miners grow to be extra aggressive in securing low-cost energy.
These issues are usually not merely theoretical. In 2021, Kazakhstan skilled important disruptions after a wave of miners arrived following China’s crypto ban. Nationwide electrical energy consumption rose sharply—by 7% in just a few months—leading to blackouts, increased vitality costs, and, in the end, authorities intervention.
Comparable points have emerged in components of the USA. In New York and Texas, regulators have taken steps to restrict large-scale mining operations during times of excessive grid demand.
Even smaller services have encountered stress. In early 2024, Greenidge Technology—a gas-powered mining plant in upstate New York—was quickly shut down throughout a chilly spell to unencumber capability for residential heating.
The incident prompted regulatory companies to start drafting tips on when and the way miners ought to cut back exercise throughout vitality shortages.
Gridless maintains that its mannequin avoids these dangers. All of its operations are off-grid, powered by renewable sources, and developed in direct coordination with native communities.
The corporate additionally states that residential and business customers are at all times prioritized, and that mining is scaled again as native demand will increase.
Nonetheless, some observers be aware that market incentives can shift shortly. If Bitcoin costs rise dramatically—as some forecasts recommend—the monetary enchantment of mining might immediate even off-grid operators to favor crypto income over group provide.
With out clear regulation or clear agreements on energy utilization, the identical method that originally helps rural growth might grow to be a supply of friction.
Can this mannequin scale?
The outcomes seen at Zengamina have begun to attract consideration past Zambia. As world scrutiny over Bitcoin’s vitality consumption grows, an growing variety of off-grid vitality tasks are exploring mining as a monetary stabilizer—notably in areas the place electrical energy is accessible however stays underused.
Off-grid mining, as soon as thought of area of interest or opportunistic, is gaining traction not just for its cleaner profile but additionally for its sensible benefits: it allows miners to sidestep regulatory constraints, keep away from peak-hour tariffs, and cut back publicity to political tensions tied to public grid infrastructure.
A number of real-world purposes are rising. Within the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Bitcoin mining operation powered by Virunga Nationwide Park’s hydro plant helps to fund conservation efforts and assist park operations.
In Ethiopia, the federal government has accepted electrical energy gross sales from the Grand Renaissance Dam to industrial mining corporations as a option to monetize extra capability and handle debt burdens.
Comparable exercise is underway in Paraguay and Suriname, the place hydroelectric era continues to exceed home demand.
In such instances, the motivation construction is aligned. Power builders achieve a constant and speedy income stream, whereas miners entry dependable, low-cost energy. These preparations usually require no subsidies and don’t depend upon large-scale transmission infrastructure.
Nevertheless, these outcomes are usually not assured. They depend on clearly outlined agreements—making certain group entry is prioritized, revenue-sharing is clear, and provisions exist to exit mining operations when various makes use of for the vitality come up.
Gridless, as an illustration, plans to finish its Zengamina operation as soon as the plant connects to Zambia’s nationwide grid, as promoting electrical energy on to the utility is predicted to supply higher long-term returns.
This phase-out is a core characteristic of the Gridless mannequin. Mining serves as a short lived monetary mechanism—bridging the hole till native demand matures. The tools is transportable and designed to be redeployed elsewhere as soon as its goal is fulfilled.
What this means shouldn’t be that Bitcoin mining resolves deeper vitality challenges, however that beneath sure circumstances, it might function a transitional instrument—monetizing stranded or surplus energy which may in any other case go unused. It supplies a option to activate infrastructure somewhat than letting it sit idle.
With Bitcoin now buying and selling close to $88,000 and mining profitability dealing with tighter margins worldwide, extra corporations are turning to distant areas in quest of low-cost, regulation-light vitality sources.
In areas with out there capability however restricted funding, this mannequin might scale—quietly and pragmatically—if allowed the operational house to take action.
