Powering Africa with Bitcoin Mining with Erik Hersman & Marshall Long - WBD675

Erik Hersman is the co-founder of Gridless, & Marshall Long
is the Head of Architecture for Rhodium Enterprises. In this
interview, we discuss Bitcoin in Africa: the need, the use and
the support the wider community can give. We also talk about
energy poverty in Africa, Bitcoin’s role in supporting
mini-grids, and how Gridless’s business model & Marshall’s
financing plan accelerate this process.


- - - -


There are around 800 million people in the world without access
to electricity. Around 75`% of those live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Given populations are distributed over vast areas in Africa, and
governments have limited access to capital, grid connections can
be economically unviable. But mini-grids are also challenging
because of the difficulty of getting a return on the high initial
investment costs: demand in these poor communities takes time to
build.


To date, the only option has been well-meaning but unsustainable
charitable ventures that can have unintended negative
second-order effects. But then Bitcoin mining showed how
curtailed energy can be monetised, and a problem has suddenly
become an opportunity. It is estimated Africa could produce 2.5
million terawatt hours of wind and solar energy per year (the US
uses around 4,000 terawatt hours of energy per year). The
business opportunity is huge.


In the fascinating interview, Eric Hesman of Gridless discusses
how his company is partnering with communities in need of energy
to provide subsidised power. Marshall Long sets out how his
family office is helping with much-needed finance for energy
projects in Africa that utilise Bitcoin mining. Together they set
out the transformational impact such initiatives could have for
the continent.