The grid connected photovoltaic (PV) power plants (PVPPs) are booming nowadays. The main problem facing the PV power plants deployment is the intermittency which leads to instability of the grid. In order to stabilize the grid, either energy storage device - mainly batteries - or a power curtailment technique can be used. The additional cost on utilizing batteries make it not preferred solution, because it leads to a drop in the return on investment (ROI) of the project. A good alternative, is using a customized load (such as; cryptocurrency-based loads) which consumes the surplus energy. This paper investigating the usage of a customized load - cryptocurrency mining rig - to create an added value for the owner of the plant and increase the ROI of the project. These devices are widely used to perform the required calculations for validating the transactions on the network of the Blockchain. A comparison between the ROI of the mining rig and the battery have been conducted in this study. Based on this study the mining rig has superior ROI of 7.7% - in the case with the lowest ROI - compared to 4.5% for battery. Moreover, an improved controlling strategy is developed to combine both the battery and mining rig in the same system. The developed strategy is able to keep the profitability as high as possible during the fluctuation of the mining network.

中文翻译：

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利用基于加密货币的挖矿负载提高光伏电站的盈利能力


如今，并网光伏（PV）发电厂（PVPP）正在蓬勃发展。光伏电站部署面临的主要问题是间歇性，导致电网不稳定。为了稳定电网，可以使用储能装置（主要是电池）或限电技术。使用电池的额外成本使其不是首选解决方案，因为它会导致项目投资回报率 (ROI) 下降。一个好的替代方案是使用消耗剩余能量的定制负载（例如基于加密货币的负载）。本文研究了定制负载（加密货币采矿设备）的使用，为工厂所有者创造附加值并提高项目的投资回报率。这些设备广泛用于执行验证区块链网络上的交易所需的计算。本研究对采矿设备和电池的投资回报率进行了比较。根据这项研究，采矿设备的投资回报率高达 7.7%（在投资回报率最低的情况下），而电池的投资回报率为 4.5%。此外，还开发了一种改进的控制策略，将电池和采矿设备结合在同一系统中。所制定的策略能够在挖矿网络波动期间保持尽可能高的盈利能力。