Enhanced profitability of photovoltaic plants by utilizing cryptocurrency-based mining load

The grid connected photovoltaic (PV) power plants (PVPPs) are booming nowadays. The main problem facing the PV power plants deployment is the intermittency which leads to instability of the grid. In order to stabilize the grid, either energy storage device - mainly batteries - or a power curtailment technique can be used. The additional cost on utilizing batteries make it not preferred solution, because it leads to a drop in the return on investment (ROI) of the project. A good alternative, is using a customized load (such as; cryptocurrency-based loads) which consumes the surplus energy. This paper investigating the usage of a customized load - cryptocurrency mining rig - to create an added value for the owner of the plant and increase the ROI of the project. These devices are widely used to perform the required calculations for validating the transactions on the network of the Blockchain. A comparison between the ROI of the mining rig and the battery have been conducted in this study. Based on this study the mining rig has superior ROI of 7.7% - in the case with the lowest ROI - compared to 4.5% for battery. Moreover, an improved controlling strategy is developed to combine both the battery and mining rig in the same system. The developed strategy is able to keep the profitability as high as possible during the fluctuation of the mining network. © 2002-2011 IEEE