Agile Energy X Inc., a subsidiary of the Japanese power giant Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), is venturing into Bitcoin mining. The company aims to leverage excess renewable energy to mine an estimated $2.5 billion in Bitcoin annually, according to a local media outlet, Asahi Shimbun.

By leveraging excess green energy from solar and wind farms, the company’s initiative reduces energy waste and utilizes it to generate Bitcoin, promoting a more efficient use of Japan’s renewable energy resources.

Kenji Tateiwa, president of the company, stated that green energy producers operate their businesses knowing that excess power goes to waste, but if bitcoin mining should provide a new revenue stream for the excess energy, it could prompt producers to generate even more green energy.

Tokyo Electric Subsidiary to Mine $2.5 Billion in BTC Annually

In 2018, Tateiwa got his idea from concerns surrounding ‘output control‘, a measure that Kyushu Electric Power Co. implemented to mitigate energy supply-demand imbalances.

The ‘output control‘ involved intentionally reducing or stopping renewable energy production to prevent grid overload, which could cause blackouts. However, this resulted in the wastage of renewable energy, especially during periods of high photovoltaic power generation, like during the daytime.

On the other hand, critics slammed Bitcoin for its high energy consumption during mining, with some studies indicating that it consumes more energy than certain European countries.

Therefore, Tateiwa plans to channel the excess renewable energy from output control into the energy-intensive process of Bitcoin mining to utilize the wasted energy and at the same time reduce the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining.

To get underway, Agile Energy X has deployed mining machines in Gunma and Tochigi prefectures, including a site close to a solar farm, to test the feasibility of mining bitcoins using excess energy that should have gone to waste.

According to Agile Energy X’s simulations, based on publicly available data, a 50% green energy mix would generate a substantial surplus of 240,000 gigawatt-hours, which cannot be stored in batteries.

Nonetheless, tapping into just 10% of the surplus energy can facilitate the mining of about 360 billion yen ($2.5 billion) worth of bitcoins.

The successful implementation of Agile Energy X’s simulations, coupled with a possible reduction in tax rates for crypto assets, may lead to a significant increase in Japan’s crypto industry development