I recently watched a YouTube video that talks about how Solar 3.0 is set to revolutionize solar energy generation. It involves Perovskites to create super-efficient solar cells that can capture way more energy from sunlight.
The best part? They cost around 15 times less than the regular solar panels we see on the market today.
So, I had this thought: why not use these for bitcoin mining? It seems like it could really save money and boost mining profits.
Even though it’s not out yet, I can see it being adopted widely and quickly becoming the norm.
It would only work if the rate of return on the solar panels is higher than on just buying ASICs and running them on the grid at 5¢/kWh. I don't think that's true, even close to the equator.
Solar farms with current technology take 5 - 10 years to pay for themselves, compared to 1-1.5 years for an ASIC miner. Even though that's a decent return, why not just buy more miners instead?
The new solar cell technology will need to be at least 5x cheaper per watt in order to be viable for mining. It still has to compete with hydropower, which is currently the cheapest, most reliable source of all.
this is from the link provided by the op.
...
"The materials are also not as stable once the cell has been created. They are subject to rigorous tests before they can be considered production level quality. The problem is that even if these cells pass the test initially, they did not behave as expected in the real world. They can decompose at high temperatures (>90 ºC). This can lead to hysteresis in materials, altering their electrical properties.
The longevity of perovskites is also in question. The lifetime of silicon cell solar panels last about 2025 years (data from the US EPA). Thus, manufacturers give consumers a 25 year warranty on solar panels. The problem with perovskites is that they are sensitive to moisture, oxygen and heat. Thus, they need more protection from the elements in order to last longer. Unfortunately, that could increase production costs.
Over time, it will reveal whether it can be a viable product. We have had decades of use from silicon solar cells. It is tried and tested, but does not produce as much power due to inefficiencies. However, they are quite stable and can be produced for mass consumption."
BASICALLY you may go from 20% to 30% efficient = very good
but the environmental cost = bad due to use of lead.
Real promise for these would be if gold was dirt cheap as gold would be great for this item maybe getting as high as 38% efficient .
400 watt panels are available if these came out in lead they would be about 600 watt panels.
if they came out in gold they would push 800 watt panels. 800 watt panels would be very good.
now cheap gold may be coming as NASA is looking at the golden asteroid in space.
it supposedly has so much gold we could use it for car batteries and power lines.
nice to think that things could get better rather than worse.
I have already mentioned in my post, as per the article, the new solar cell will be 15 times cheaper than current solar technology.
Buying ASIC miner is good but it needs energy to mine bitcoins and I think using Solar 3.0 when it's ready will save us a lot in electricity.
Although the new solar technology is not so stable yet, it's still worth noting down that once it becomes stable and we will a better alternative to traditional solar panels.
I don't trust these 'new technology' press release articles. It usually takes years to refine the technology for mass production. Just because some laboratory at some university can produce 1 solar cell doesn't mean it is even close to being ready for the mainstream market, let alone mining farms. What is important today are trapped power sources like hydroelectricity, flared oil wells or imbalanced energy markets.
Right now most large mining farms run expensive, large, noisy, and hot devices. The higher you push the device to get more hashes, the less efficient it becomes. I don't think these kind of devices will ever be able to run nicely from solar energy.
I think that the future of solar mining will be with a huge distributed network of small, cheap, and extremely efficient miners. I see the new Intel Blockscale ASIC technology as the first step towards this.
Imagine having an entire dessert covered with millions of these tiny devices, getting enough solar electricity to run, and of course a battery system to keep it running 24/7. Each small miner would only need the energy harvested by the small area on top of it.
Something like this would be more sustainable for the long term as it would be cheaper to replace them as well.
This would be similar to how Google started, by using a large cluster of normal cheap PCs instead of single powerful custom made super computers.
It's also important to remember that even if this Solar 3.0 thing ever is produced and indeed lives up to its expectations, economic factors (such as limited supply) wil eventually push its selling price way higher than the "15x cheaper than traditional panels" threshold because everyone and their mother will buy it, which is also what happens to the ASIC market historically.