Use cases
Surplus solar is everywhere. Here's who can use it.
01 · Homeowners
Homeowners on NEM 3.0
Works with solar-only or solar + battery homes. Your battery covers evening use first; the miner only takes surplus that would otherwise be exported for a few cents.
- Battery and home loads always come first
- Runs only while you're exporting, off the moment you import
- Payouts go straight to your own wallet
02 · Portable solar generators
Let your portable solar generator help pay for itself
When your generator isn't needed for backup or camping, it can do a full solar cycle each day: charge from its own panels during the day, then run a right-sized miner through the full battery, and recharge again from the sun. Using the whole battery — not just leftover surplus — puts far more solar energy to work.
Lithium batteries also accept charge fastest in the low-to-mid range and slow down as they near full, so a battery that's drained and recharged daily uses solar time more efficiently than one that sits near 100%.
You keep everything a portable generator is for — backup power during outages, camping and off-grid trips, and emergency readiness. Mining only runs when the generator isn't needed, so you keep all the usual benefits and earn bitcoin on the side. The miner pauses or stops whenever you need the power.
- Backup power during outages
- Camping & off-grid trips
- Emergency readiness
Estimate at today's BTC ~$81k
~$201/yr
10 kWh generator, one solar cycle/day (~250,000 sats/yr)
Estimate at today's BTC ~$81k
~$100/yr
5 kWh generator, one solar cycle/day (~120,000 sats/yr)
What if BTC rises? — Scenarios, not predictions
Each $10k rise in BTC adds about $25/yr for a 10 kWh generator (about $12/yr for 5 kWh).
At today's network conditions, a 10 kWh generator would mine ~250,000 sats (~0.0025 BTC) a year. You keep the bitcoin you mine; if BTC's price rises, what you've already mined is worth more too.
Sats mined depend on network difficulty and halvings, not on price; difficulty typically rises over time, reducing sats per kWh.
Scenarios, not predictions.
One full solar-charged cycle per day (estimates)
| Battery size | Panels for daily recharge | Today ~$81k (monthly) | Today ~$81k (yearly) | Est. sats/yr | $150k (yearly) | $500k (yearly) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 kWh | ~0.5 kW | ~$3 | ~$40 | ~50,000 | ~$74 | ~$248 |
| 5 kWh | ~1.3 kW | ~$8 | ~$100 | ~120,000 | ~$186 | ~$620 |
| 10 kWh | ~2.6 kW | ~$17 | ~$201 | ~250,000 | ~$372 | ~$1,241 |
| 20 kWh | ~5.2 kW | ~$33 | ~$402 | ~500,000 | ~$744 | ~$2,481 |
Estimates only, not guaranteed; AVL Solar Miner is in pilot/prototype stage. Uses the same model as our calculator: Avalon Q-class efficiency (90 TH/s at 1,674 W, ~8.1¢/kWh gross at BTC ~$81k, hashprice ~$36/PH/day, Oct 2026), 80% owner share after AVL's 20%, 0% pool fee, ~85% of rated battery capacity delivered to the miner (depth of discharge and inverter losses), 30.42 days/month. Higher BTC scenarios scale hashprice linearly; network difficulty usually rises with price, so they may overstate earnings. The 2028 halving is expected to roughly halve mining revenue at the same BTC price. Panel sizing assumes ~4.5 peak sun hours and ~85% charging efficiency. Like any battery use, regular cycling contributes to normal battery aging; see your manufacturer's cycle rating.
Practical limits
- Solar charging only. Charging from the wall at ~30¢/kWh to mine loses money.
- Your panels must be large enough to fully recharge every day (e.g., a 20 kWh cycle needs roughly 5 kW of panels).
- The generator's inverter must continuously handle the miner's wattage (an Avalon Q-class miner draws ~1.7 kW; smaller generators need a smaller miner, and smaller, less efficient miners earn less per kWh).
- Noise and heat from the miner; keep it ventilated and away from living spaces.
For manufacturers
A built-in feature story: a generator that can help pay for itself with solar-powered bitcoin mining when it isn't needed, with backup, camping and emergency power taking priority.
Manufacturer partnership03 · Off-grid homes & remote sites
Keep the power on first. Put wasted sun to work second.
For cabins, ranches, rural homes, RVs and van builds, and remote sites. Keeping your home powered always comes first.
Off-grid systems are sized for the worst days, so on sunny days batteries fill up early and the extra solar is simply curtailed — wasted. The AVL Solar Miner is designed to use only that curtailed solar, after batteries are full, and to switch off as soon as your home needs the power.
Off-grid integration in development
Uses battery state-of-charge and charge-controller/inverter signals; the current prototype uses CTs for grid-tied export.
- Runs only on surplus solar after batteries are full
- Never draws on battery reserve or a backup generator
- Turns curtailed solar into value instead of $0
- You keep the bitcoin you mine
~$236/yr
Estimate at today's BTC ~$81k, ~10 kWh/day of otherwise-curtailed solar, after AVL's 20% share. Not guaranteed.
04 · Crypto exchanges
Crypto exchanges & wallets
A way to onboard solar owners who have never held crypto, through a co-branded program built around the energy they already produce.
- Payouts at the pool level to the user's own exchange wallet
- Recurring small deposits from new users
- Co-branded solar onboarding program
05 · Solar, inverter & battery OEMs
Solar, inverter & battery manufacturers
Integrate or license the controller to give your products a new story under NEM 3.0.
- Integrate or license the CT-sensing controller
- Differentiate products under NEM 3.0
- A new value story for surplus solar
06 · Mining companies & pools
Mining companies & pools
An entry into distributed residential hashrate powered by surplus solar.
- Distributed residential hashrate
- Pool payout split per home
- Hardware distribution channel