Cyber correspondent, BBC World Service
The roar of the Zambezi is deafening as millions of gallons of water crash over rocks and tumble down rapids.
But there’s another sound cutting through the trees of the Zambian bush – the unmistakable high-pitched whine of a bitcoin mine.
“It’s the sound of money!” says a smiling Phillip Walton as he surveys the shipping container with 120 computers busily crunching through complex calculations that verify bitcoin transactions.
In exchange they are automatically rewarded bitcoin by the network.
We’re in the far north-western tip of Zambia near the border with the DRC, and of all the bitcoin mines I’ve visited – this one is the strangest.
Water and electronic equipment don’t usually mix well but it’s precisely the proximity to the river that’s drawn bitcoiners here.
Phillip’s mine is plugged directly into a hydro-electric power plant that channels some of the Zambezi’s torrent through enormous turbines to generate continuous, clean electricity.
More importantly for bitcoin mining – it’s cheap.
So cheap it made business sense for Phillip’s Kenya-based company Gridless to drag its shipping container full of delicate bitcoin mining computers across bumpy narrow roads 14 hours from the nearest major city to set up here.
Each machine makes about $5 (£3.90) a day. More if the price of coins is high, less if it drops.
Occasionally Phillip glances down at his smart watch – the home screen showing the ever-changing squiggly line of bitcoin’s dollar value.
At the moment it’s around $80,000 a coin, but Phillip says they can make a profit even when the value of the bitcoin goes low thanks to the cheap electricity on the site and the partnership they have with the energy company.
“We recognised that in order to get better mining economics we needed to partner with the power company here and give them a revenue share. And so the reason we’re willing to come out here somewhere so remote is it allows us to effectively get cheaper power,” he says.
Zengamina hydro-power plant is huge but technically it’s a mini grid – a standalone island of power for the local community.
It was built in the early 2000s thanks to $3m raised from charity donations.
British-Zambian Daniel Rea runs the site after his missionary family led the building project, primarily to power the local hospital.
Now it provides power for around 15,000 people in the local area but the project hasn’t been able to make ends meet because of slow take-up from the community.
Allowing the bitcoiners to set up shop here has been transformational to the business.
“Every day we were wasting over half of the energy we could generate which also meant we’re not earning from that to meet our operating expenses. We needed a major user of power in the area and that’s where the game-changing partnership with Gridless came in,” Daniel says.
The bitcoin mine now accounts for around 30% of the plant’s revenue allowing them to keep the prices down for the local town.
Bitcoin and its economics are of course far from the minds of the people in Zengamina.
The town itself is a few miles from the plant and comprises not much more than a few dozen shed-like buildings peppering a cross roads.
Only one shop has a fridge and a dozen kids crowd around a communal computer taking turns to choose a song to blare out, causing adults to wince as they go about their day.
Although the hydro-electric plant came online in 2007, it took a few more years to connect it to the local town, and then more time to connect individual homes and businesses.
So, some people like barber Damian are still enjoying the novelty of getting wired up only a year and a half ago.
“Until I got power I had nothing and couldn’t do anything. When I got power I bought everything at the same time.”
He’s not joking. At night his tiny barber shop is a beacon of power with a TV playing music videos, strings of Christmas lights and the buzz of his hair clipper. Like moths, young people hang out in his barber shop like a youth hostel.
“Getting power has changed my life,” he smiles. “The money I’m earning now from the barbershop is helping me pay for school fees again.”
Embracing electricity is very much a business decision for Damian. At home he shares one light bulb between the two rooms that make up the small house.
Elsewhere in the town sisters Tumba and Lucy Machayi sit on the crossroads watching the world go by.
Like many young people, they’re glued to their phones.
“Before the town got power, it was basically just the bush,” says Lucy.
The little electricity they had used to come from small solar panels, they say.
“No fridge, no TV, no mobile phone network,” says Tumba.
“Electricity completely changed the lives of people here,” Lucy adds.
“We can charge our phones, we have network. We can communicate with each other.”
Not many people here know or care about the bitcoin mine that’s played a part in helping the hydro-plant keep things going.
But soon they’ll watch as that container once again rattles its way through the town on its way to another location.
Zengamina Hydro has secured a large investment to help them expand to more villages and join up to the national grid.
Soon the excess energy the mine was harvesting will be sold back to the national grid and mining bitcoin will no longer be profitable at Zengamina.
Phillip and team are sanguine about this and insist this is good news. They will have had a successful few years here and ultimately they are happy to have helped Zengamina. And made a tidy profit in bitcoin of course.
The company says there are plenty of places with so-called stranded energy that they can plonk their bitcoin mine next to.
Gridless already has six sites like this in three different African countries.
North of Zengamina another bitcoin mine slurps up excess energy from a hydro-electric plant run by Virunga National Park in the Congo. It’s helping to fund conservation projects, the park says.
But Gridless now plans an ambitious next move – to build their own hydro-plants from scratch to mine for bitcoin and bring electricity to rural areas.
The company’s co-founder Janet Maingi says the company is busy raising tens of millions of dollars for the project.
They’re focusing on so-called run-of-river hydroelectric models like at Zengamina and the continent has an abundance of “untapped hydro potential” she says.
“A consumer-driven, adaptive energy model is essential for scalable, affordable, and sustainable energy access that meets the needs of African communities,” she explains.
The company is not a charity and believes that ensuring long-term economic viability for developers and investors can only be done through bitcoin.
Finding locations for a new plant or to tap into existing ones is the easy part though.
The company still faces resistance from some authorities and companies which see bitcoin as an energy-greedy and selfish use of electricity that might otherwise be used by rural people.
But the company insists that the incentive is always to sell to the highest buyer and that will always, they say, be the local community.
History tells us that without incentives or rules in place, bitcoin mining at scale can put strain on public energy grids. In Kazakhstan in 2020-2021 a mining boom increased energy usage in the country by 7% before the government clamped down and clipped the wings of the burgeoning industry.
In the US – bitcoin mining’s new mecca – conflicts between miners, locals and residents have been common when electricity is in high demand.
Authorities have created agreements with some mining giants to ensure that they power down their warehouses chock full of computers at times when the grid needs balancing.
For example, Greenidge gas power plant in New York which was renovated to mine bitcoin was mandated to power down mining in January to supply electricity to the grid during a cold snap.
Agreements like these will need to be widespread if President Donald Trump’s ambition for bitcoin to be “mined, minted and made in the USA” is to be achieved.
The environmental impact of the industry is also a major concern. It’s estimated that bitcoin mining uses as much energy as a small country like Poland.
But according to researchers at Cambridge University which does annual estimates on bitcoin’s energy usage, there is a shift taking place to a more sustainable energy mix.
Set ups like this Zengamina are a tiny part of the overall mining picture.
But they are also a rare example of a controversial industry creating much more than just digital coins.
ADVERTISEMENT:
Hai, para pengemar slot! Pernah mendengar istilah “slot gacor”? Kalau tidak, siap-siap jatuh cinta sama program ini. raja slot adalah mesin slot yang selalu memberi win. Yup, slot-slot ini bisa disebut sebagai jagoannya buat membawa pulang cuan. any way, cemana sih caranya nemuin slot gaco yang benar? Santai Bro and Sis, kita bahas santai aja di sini
Permainan tergacor saat sekarang hanya satu berada Indonesia hanya di akan menyediakan return on Investment terbaik
Daftarkanlah dengan di :
Informasi mengenai KING SLOT, Segera Daftar Bersama king selot terbaik dan terpercaya no satu di Indonesia. Boleh mendaftar melalui sini king slot serta memberikan hasil kembali yang paling tinggi saat sekarang ini hanyalah KING SLOT atau Raja slot paling gacor, gilak dan gaco saat sekarang di Indonesia melalui program return tinggi di kingselot serta pg king slot
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kdwapp.com
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jebswagstore.com
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama demoslotgacor.pro
slot demo gacor
slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot gacor
akun demo slot gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo gacor
akun slot demo gacor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot pragmatic
akun demo slot pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo pragmatic
akun slot demo pragmatic permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun slot demo
akun slot demo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
akun demo slot
akun demo slot permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
situs slot terbaru
situs slot terbaru permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
slot terbaru
slot terbaru permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama situsslotterbaru.net
adipatislot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama adipatislot88.org
akartoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama akartoto88.biz
allototo88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama allototo88.com
alototo88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama alototo88.com
an77 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama an77.biz
an88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama an88.net
grandhyatt88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama grandhyatt88.com
awan88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama awan88.org
banteng88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama banteng88.biz
banteng96 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama banteng96.com
bibir66 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama bibir66.com
bibir88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama bibir88.biz
bocor888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama bocor888.biz
boswin888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama boswin888.asia
canda88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama canda88.org
candatoto permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama candatoto.net
cinta888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama cinta888.biz
dalang88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama dalang88.info
dalang96 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama dalang96.org
dinojp88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama dinojp88.com
dragon22 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama dragon22.asia
eyangslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama eyangslot88.biz
f77bet permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama f77bet.net
f88bet permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama f88bet.asia
haha88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama haha88.asia
heroslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama heroslot888.info
hiwin88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hiwin88.org
hoki222 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hoki222.biz
hot99 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hot99.info
hotliga88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hotliga88.com
hut88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama hut88.info
inajp88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama inajp88.net
istanaslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama istanaslot88.biz
jawatogel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jawatogel88.com
jayatogel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jayatogel88.info
jengkol88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jengkol88.info
jeniustoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama jeniustoto88.org
kakakslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kakakslot888.net
kakaslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kakaslot88.biz
keltoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama keltoto88.com
kera33 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kera33.com
kera88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kera88.biz
keraktelor permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama keraktelor.org
kuliner88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama kuliner88.org
lengkatoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama lengkatoto88.com
lexitoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama lexitoto88.net
mahkotajitu88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama mahkotajitu88.com
maincuan88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama maincuan88.com
menangbet88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama menangbet88.asia
menutogel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama menutogel88.com
merdeka88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama merdeka88.biz
merdekatoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama merdekatoto88.info
metrototo permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama metrototo.biz
miegacoan permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama miegacoan.biz
ml88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama ml88.net
monas777 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama monas777.info
monas88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama monas88.biz
moris88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama moris88.org
nastartoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama nastartoto88.com
newslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama newslot888.biz
ngopibet88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama ngopibet88.org
omset88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama omset88.com
pajaktoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pajaktoto88.biz
pc77 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pc77.net
pc88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pc88.biz
pin88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pin88.asia
pintoto permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pintoto.info
pmg888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pmg888.biz
pohon88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pohon88.biz
pulsa77 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pulsa77.biz
pulsa88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pulsa88.biz
puma888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama puma888.info
pusakajitu88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama pusakajitu88.com
qqhok88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama qqhok88.org
rapi88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama rapi88.info
rt88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama rt88.info
rupiahtoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama rupiahtoto88.asia
s88bet permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama s88bet.org
serba88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama serba88.biz
sibukslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sibukslot88.com
sinardunia888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sinardunia888.com
sinartogel88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sinartogel88.biz
sloki888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sloki888.info
slotplay88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama slotplay88.biz
sp77 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sp77.biz
sp88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sp88.org
sparta888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sparta888.co
sukaslot888 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sukaslot888.info
sule999 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sule999.net
sultanjp88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama sultanjp88.com
teluk88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama teluk88.biz
teluk88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama teluk88.info
tikitoto88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama tikitoto88.org
togelsumo88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama togelsumo88.com
ultra77 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama ultra77.biz
userslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama userslot88.biz
uya88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama uya88.biz
uyatoto permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama uyatoto.com
vegasslot777 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama vegasslot777.asia
vegasslot88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama vegasslot88.asia
wajik88 permainan paling top dan garansi imbal balik hasil besar bersama wajik88.asia
