The VC Nick Grossman expands on a concept we have seen before on the group: the concept of bitcoin as battery.
Iceland has vast amounts of accessible, inexpensive renewable energy in the form of geothermal. But you can’t build power lines in every direction under the Atlantic. So instead of selling it directly, you convert the electricity into aluminum and you ship that around the world… In a sense, the aluminum coming from Iceland is like a battery.
Crypto mining converts electricity into value, in the form of crypto assets (BTC, ETH, etc). Those assets, like the aluminum produced in Iceland, can then be moved, transferred and transformed. But unlike aluminum, which must be physically shipped to its final destination, crypto assets are programmable, and can move there instantly via an internet connection.
Nick then goes on to describe a number of ways in which renewable energy could store value in the bitcoin battery. Here is the very first idea:
Interconnection queues: when you develop new energy resources, you must apply to get them connected to the grid. Texas alone has over 100 GW of renewables in its queue. These queues can take years to clear. In the meantime, these assets could be online and earning Bitcoin.
The whole article is simple, short and eminently worth reading.