Exploring Natural Gas Mining for Crypto

Hey all, I came across these mining setups in North Dakota and Alberta that use excess natural gas from wells. Anyone here built or operated one? I wanna know how power distribution works with gas generators and all that gear.

Generators can output whatever voltage you want, like 240 or 480V. You still need subpanels with breakers, just like any other power source. It's pretty straightforward.

So if you get a 480V generator, do you just use a transformer to drop it down to 240? Like balance it out?

Nah, just get a generator that gives you the voltage you need. They come in different output voltages and usually have tap settings to adjust the voltage.

Using stranded or flare gas needs to be on a massive scale to make sense financially. Plus, you’ve got to maintain a power plant, often in remote spots. I can get electricity locally for about 43 bucks per megawatt per hour. You’d need at least a 100MW setup to break even in a few years, even with "free" gas.

Interesting take. My calculations still show it's profitable, even if you factor in generator maintenance. Can you explain why you think it’s not?

What size megawatts did you hit profitability? What’s the ROI timeframe? What’s your cost per kWh? You need a sizable installation just to make payroll. A new 40MW gas turbine costs around 31 million, and used ones are about 6 million, plus extra for parts. Gotta think about installation costs too.

I saw some Russian sites with a calculator for electricity costs. When gas costs are factored in, it’s usually not profitable. These generators are often used in remote areas or as backups where gas is nearly free.

I did a breakdown for a small 250kW generator, around $70,000 CAD, with gas costs averaging $2750 CAD a month. That’s with 85% uptime and considering gas prices over 5 years.

250kW is backyard scale, not worth your time. You can only run them at 80% load, so you’re looking at 200kW usable. If it’s a hobby, go for it, but it’s not a viable business model. Who’s handling daily maintenance and repairs?

What’s the lifespan of those gas generators? You gotta add up electricity generation costs, the generator price, and maintenance to see if you can recover your investment in 5 years.

In Russia, gas is about 4.5 cents per cubic meter, but maintenance costs make gas generators unprofitable, plus the need for numerous permits.

Just wrapped up a 210-230kW mine, which is too small unless you’re a one-man operation. If you’re running 60 miners, you’d need a solid setup to make it worthwhile.

I see why my country burns off a lot of gas in oil fields. Mining could work with free gas, but the laws are tricky. Getting licenses takes ages, and using it for personal use also needs permissions.

Generators are maintenance-heavy. Shutting down every few days for checks and oil changes is common. Had a guy in Pennsylvania with a 60-75k generator back in 2014. Wonder how that panned out for him.

That’s only for standby generators. Generators meant for prime power have much longer maintenance intervals, from months to a year. But yeah, they still need to be checked regularly.