Tokyo Firm Turns Excess Solar Energy into Bitcoin
A Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) subsidiary is exploring Bitcoin mining as a way to utilize surplus renewable energy.
Agile Energy X, based in Tokyo, is testing the use of excess solar power for Bitcoin mining operations. According to a report on September 8, the subsidiary’s president, Kenji Tateiwa, believes that successful implementation could lead to an increase in green energy adoption.
The initiative is inspired by Japan’s “output control” practices, where renewable energy production is intentionally reduced to manage supply and demand or to address transmission limitations. Agile Energy X has set up mining operations near solar farms in Gunma and Tochigi prefectures to capture and use energy that might otherwise be wasted.
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In 2023, Japan experienced output control affecting 1,920 gigawatt-hours of power, equivalent to the annual consumption of about 450,000 households. Agile Energy X estimates that if renewable energy comprised 50% of Japan’s power, up to 240,000 gigawatt-hours could be lost annually due to curtailment. The company projects that utilizing just 10% of this surplus for Bitcoin mining could yield approximately 360 billion yen ($2.5 billion) in Bitcoin each year.
Tateiwa suggested that profits from Bitcoin mining could incentivize more green energy projects. Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings, commented that while the EU debates Bitcoin, Japan is advancing its research. This approach parallels efforts by U.S. crypto mining companies, particularly in Texas, which also leverage renewable energy for grid stabilization.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
