Mining hardware producer Canaan has announced it has won a contract to supply 4.5 megawatts (MW) of Bitcoin mining application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for a project designed to help stabilize Japan’s electric grid.
According to a Thursday announcement, the company will supply an electrical engineering solutions provider with Bitcoin mining ASICs with a capacity of 4.5 MW for the project. The project will deploy Canaan’s new Avalon A1566HA-488T water-cooled mining ASICs for “real-time grid balancing and energy-efficiency optimization,” Canaan said.
The mining operation will run continuously and utilize controlled overclocking and underclocking, adjusting power consumption to stabilize the regional grid load. Canaan’s proprietary control systems will dynamically adjust frequency, voltage and hashrate to match power supply and demand.
Grid load balancing is crucial for maintaining frequency and voltage stability within safe limits, as energy consumption and renewable energy output can fluctuate significantly. Cryptocurrency mining can assist with this by acting as a fast, controllable demand response. Miners can locate near wind or solar installations and ramp up to soak up unnecessary surplus power and ramp down quickly when needed.
Canaan chairman and CEO Nangeng Zhang noted that this initiative builds on a similar project the company supported in the Netherlands last year and that this technology allows utilities to leverage Bitcoin mining as a digital load balancer, improving both environmental sustainability and grid efficiency.
Earlier this week, the CEO of Brazilian solar power producer Thopen stated that the company is exploring a move into Bitcoin mining to absorb surplus energy generated by the country's fast-growing renewable sector. A January report by the Digital Assets Research Institute indicated that Bitcoin mining impacted the Texas electrical grid and saved the state as much as $18 billion by eliminating the need for new gas peaker plants.
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