By Susie Violet Ward · City A.M. · 31 July 2023
Written as a City A.M. column in July 2023, the piece looks at using landfill gas to power bitcoin mining. The gas contains methane, which the column describes as 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Climate tech investor Daniel Batten and his team at CH4 Capital were using it to mine bitcoin. The column puts the share of landfill sites close enough to the grid at only about 30%, and says mining could earn owners of the rest an average of £6.5 per megawatt hour.
The column’s site criteria include perforated wells, no grid export and five-year power purchase agreements. Carbon credits add revenue: the column puts landfill gas credits at about £3.20 per tonne of carbon dioxide, with a 4MW site earning around £530,000 a year. It also points to Joe Hall’s documentary The Bitcoin Farmer, with Scilling Mining, on how mining supports circular economies on farms.