Live Bitcoin data · real solar yield for your location
Crypto Mining with Solar Calculator
Find out whether your solar panels earn more mining Bitcoin or exporting to the grid. Real monthly sun for your location, live hashprice, the halving, and payback for surplus-only, 24/7, and off-grid mining.
- Live BTC price, difficulty, and fees
- PVGIS solar data for any location
- Surplus-only vs. 24/7 vs. export
- Halving-aware payback
Result for Austin, Texas, USA
Mine your surplus, don't buy power to mine: a spare solar kWh earns $0.120 mined against $0.050 exported, but grid power at $0.150 costs more than it earns.
With your outlook, mining stops paying around Apr 2028, after the halving. The fleet only finds enough spare solar to run 14% of the time.
- Gain in year 1
- +$1,426
- vs. paying the grid for everything
- Profit after 10 years
- +$582
- After $24,300 upfront
- Payback
- > 10 years
- NPV -$7,883 · IRR 0.3%
- A mined kWh earns
- $0.120
- $0.0395 per TH/s a day
What one kWh is worth
- Exported to the grid$0.050
- Mined today$0.120
- Mined after the Apr 2028 halving$0.049
- Bought from the grid$0.150
Mining value = hashprice × (1 − pool fee) ÷ energy per TH/s a day. Your miner: 13.5 J/TH.
Compare operating modes
Same system, three ways to use it. Gains are measured against paying the grid for everything.
| Mode | Upfront | Year 1 gain | Profit, 10 y | Payback | NPV | Miner uptime | Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don't mine | $20,000 | +$1,140 | +$4,484 | – | -$3,964 | – | |
| Solar surplus only | $24,300 | +$1,426 | +$582 | – | -$7,883 | 14% | Selected |
| 24/7, grid fills gaps | $24,300 | +$1,426 | +$582 | – | -$7,883 | 14% |
Adding the miners changes 10-year profit by -$3,902 compared with not mining.
24/7 behaves like surplus-only here because grid power costs more than mining earns.
Cumulative profit
Cash position after the upfront cost, month by month. The profit figures also credit the remaining value of panels and batteries at the end ($12,000).
- Don't mine
- Solar surplus only
- 24/7, grid fills gaps
Where your solar goes, month by month
Average day in year 1, in kWh. Miners run 4.2 h a day in Aug and 2.7 h in Dec.
- Home
- Miners
- Exported
Show as table
| Month | Solar | Home | Miners | Exported | Grid to miners | Miner hours/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 36.0 | 11.1 | 12.1 | 12.8 | 0.0 | 3.3 |
| Feb | 36.5 | 11.8 | 11.8 | 12.9 | 0.0 | 3.2 |
| Mar | 40.0 | 12.8 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 0.0 | 3.6 |
| Apr | 42.1 | 13.8 | 13.4 | 14.9 | 0.0 | 3.7 |
| May | 40.3 | 14.5 | 10.2 | 15.6 | 0.0 | 2.8 |
| Jun | 43.1 | 15.0 | 12.3 | 15.8 | 0.0 | 3.4 |
| Jul | 44.2 | 14.9 | 13.7 | 15.6 | 0.0 | 3.8 |
| Aug | 45.2 | 14.3 | 15.2 | 15.8 | 0.0 | 4.2 |
| Sep | 42.4 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 14.6 | 0.0 | 4.0 |
| Oct | 40.8 | 12.2 | 14.2 | 14.4 | 0.0 | 3.9 |
| Nov | 34.8 | 11.2 | 11.4 | 12.2 | 0.0 | 3.1 |
| Dec | 31.6 | 10.7 | 9.7 | 11.2 | 0.0 | 2.7 |
Mining value of a kWh over time
Your outlook for what a mined kWh earns, against the export and grid prices. Mining pays while the line stays above the export price.
- Mining value
- Export price
- Grid price
How much solar does this fleet need?
Fleet: 1 × Antminer S21 XP = 3.65 kW, 87 kWh a day at full power
- Full power around midday
- 6.1 kWp · 14 panels
- 24/7 on solar, average month
- 29.5 kWp · 66 panels
- ≈ 139 m² of panels
- 24/7 even in Dec
- 37.0 kWp · 83 panels
- Mining through a Dec night
- 51 kWh of battery ≈ $17,754. Cycled daily it earns ≈ $1,289 a year from mining at today's hashprice, a 13.8-year payback before battery wear and halvings.
Your array: 10.0 kWp
What if Bitcoin does something else?
Extra 10-year profit from the miners compared with not mining, for other BTC price and network hashrate paths. Your current assumption is outlined.
| BTC price change per year ↓ · Hashrate growth per year → | 0% | 10% | 20% | 25% | 30% | 45% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +50% | -$400 | -$1,644 | -$2,459 | -$2,763 | -$3,018 | -$3,573 |
| +30% | -$2,123 | -$2,866 | -$3,362 | -$3,550 | -$3,709 | -$3,892 |
| +15% | -$3,038 | -$3,528 | -$3,833 | -$3,875 | -$3,899 | -$3,955 |
| +10% | -$3,286 | -$3,709 | -$3,878 | -$3,902 | -$3,923 | -$3,977 |
| 0% | -$3,709 | -$3,883 | -$3,931 | -$3,951 | -$3,970 | -$4,019 |
| -15% | -$3,920 | -$3,968 | -$4,008 | -$4,025 | -$4,041 | -$4,084 |
| -30% | -$4,013 | -$4,052 | -$4,085 | -$4,100 | -$4,112 | -$4,140 |
The miners pay for themselves over 10 years if BTC starts at $328,444 instead of $83,049, with the same yearly change.
Year by year
| Year | Hashprice /TH/day | Mined kWh | Mining revenue | Export income | Grid cost | Running costs | Gain vs. baseline | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | -$24,300 | -$24,300 |
| 1 | $0.0371 | 4,614 | $517 | $259 | $910 | $60 | +$1,426 | -$22,874 |
| 2 | $0.0248 | 2,195 | $224 | $387 | $929 | $61 | +$1,275 | -$21,599 |
| 3 | $0.0144 | 0 | $0 | $509 | $947 | $62 | +$1,186 | -$20,413 |
| 4 | $0.0127 | 0 | $0 | $519 | $966 | $64 | +$1,210 | -$19,203 |
| 5 | $0.0112 | 0 | $0 | $530 | $985 | $65 | +$1,234 | -$17,969 |
| 6 | $0.0075 | 0 | $0 | $540 | $1,005 | $66 | +$1,259 | -$16,710 |
| 7 | $0.0044 | 0 | $0 | $551 | $1,025 | $68 | +$1,284 | -$15,426 |
| 8 | $0.0039 | 0 | $0 | $562 | $1,046 | $69 | +$1,310 | -$14,117 |
| 9 | $0.0034 | 0 | $0 | $573 | $1,067 | $70 | +$1,336 | -$12,781 |
| 10 | $0.0023 | 0 | $0 | $585 | $1,088 | $72 | +$13,363 (Residual value $12,000) | $582 |
Model notes
- Solar: PVGIS monthly yield with 14% system losses, spread over a latitude-aware daylight curve and three weather day types (sunny, average, cloudy) per month.
- Miners switch whole units on and off in 15-minute steps, so a 3.5 kW miner needs 3.5 kW of spare solar unless the firmware can throttle.
- Bitcoin revenue = network difficulty, block subsidy with the halving schedule, recent fees per block, and your price and hashrate outlook. Fees stay at today's level in BTC.
- Solar and batteries are credited with remaining value at the end of the horizon (25 and 12-year lives). Miners are worth nothing after their lifespan.
- Taxes, financing, grid export caps, and hardware resale are not modelled.
How this calculator thinks
- Solar yield from PVGIS satellite data for your coordinates, with 14% system losses and an orientation adjustment.
- Miners run in whole units unless the firmware can throttle, so a 3.5 kW ASIC only mines when 3.5 kW of solar is spare.
- Batteries serve the home first; off-grid, miners can also use charge above a 50% reserve.
- Mining value per kWh (hashprice ÷ energy per TH/s) is compared with export and grid prices every month, so mining stops when exporting pays more.
For every month of the year the model simulates sunny, average, and cloudy days in 15-minute steps: solar production for your location, home load, battery charge and discharge, miners switching on when there is enough spare power, and what is exported or bought from the grid. Revenue then runs month by month over your horizon using live network difficulty, recent fees, the halving schedule, and your Bitcoin price and hashrate outlook.
Use it for a home with spare solar, a heater miner in winter, an off-grid site, or a grid-tied ASIC farm. Already own the panels or the miners? Tick it and only new spending counts.
How to use it in a minute
- Search your city or use your location to load real monthly solar yield.
- Pick a miner, how many, and whether they run on surplus only or 24/7.
- Enter your array size, home consumption, and the grid and export prices on your bill.
- Read the verdict, then compare modes, test other Bitcoin paths, and share or download the result.
Open “More options” in each section for hashrate and power, throttling, miner lifespan, other coins, pool fee, discount rate, electricity price change, and heat reuse.
Frequently asked questions
What does this calculator estimate?
It estimates whether running crypto miners on solar power pays off, with or without batteries and the grid. It shows what a kWh earns mined versus exported or bought, monthly energy flows, payback, NPV, IRR, profit, the solar size a fleet needs, and the Bitcoin price at which the miners break even.
Does it use live coin prices and difficulty?
Yes, for Bitcoin. Price, difficulty, block height, and recent fees load from mempool.space, and the next halving is derived from the block height. You set the yearly price change and network hashrate growth. For other coins, switch revenue to a fixed amount per day from your pool.
Can it include electricity-price inflation?
Yes. Set a yearly electricity price change; it compounds the grid price, the export price, and running costs. Use 0% to keep them flat in today's money.
Can I simulate fully off-grid mining?
Yes. Choose off-grid: miners use spare solar and battery charge above a reserve for the home, and any home load the system cannot cover is priced as backup generator energy. The tool warns when that share is significant.
Is it better to mine with solar surplus or export it?
Compare the two prices the calculator shows. If a mined kWh earns more than your export price, mining the surplus pays; if your grid price is even lower than mining value, 24/7 mining pays too. After a halving, mining value per kWh roughly halves, which often flips the answer.
How many solar panels do I need to run a Bitcoin miner?
A 3.5 kW ASIC uses about 84 kWh a day. Around midday it needs roughly 5 kWp of panels to run at full power; running it 24/7 on solar alone takes several times more, plus a large battery. The sizing section works this out for your miner, fleet size, and location.
Is this financial advice?
No. This is an engineering-style planning estimate. Compare it with installer quotes, pool data, taxes, regulation, and local utility rules before investing.
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