ENGIE Taps Excess Renewable Energy for Bitcoin Mining

ENGIE, a French energy giant, is weighing up options to monetize excess renewable energy from its Assu Sol solar farm in Brazil. The company's Assu Sol project, which has a capacity of 895 MW, has encountered curtailment issues since entering operation due to the rapid addition of wind and solar capacity outpacing grid upgrades and demand growth.

Curtailment occurs when renewable plants are forced offline due to excess generation exceeding grid demand or transmission capacity. To address this issue, ENGIE is assessing industrial offtakers that can absorb variable surpluses from solar generation, including battery storage systems and bitcoin mining data centers.

Bitcoin mining facilities offer particular operational flexibility as they can switch on and off quickly in response to fluctuating power availability. This creates a model where compute capacity is co-located with renewable assets, operating opportunistically when power is available.