Key Takeaways
ENGIE may use bitcoin mining or batteries to absorb surplus power at its 895MW Assu Sol plant in Brazil.
Grid constraints and weak demand have caused costly renewable energy curtailment since 2023.
Zero import taxes on mining equipment through 2028 could support on-site Bitcoin mining infrastructure.
New Solutions to Brazil’s Solar Curtailment Problem
French energy company ENGIE is looking at a new way to deal with a growing problem in Brazil: too much solar power and not enough grid capacity. The company is thinking about using bitcoin mining or battery storage systems to absorb extra electricity from one of its largest solar plants.
The solar plant, called Assu Sol, is located in northeastern Brazil. It is ENGIE’s biggest solar project in the world, with a capacity of 895 megawatts. The plant recently started full operations and was seen as a major achievement for the company.
However, the project quickly faced a problem known as “curtailment.” Curtailment happens when a power plant is told to reduce or stop producing electricity because the national grid cannot handle all the available power.
This means clean energy is produced but there is either not enough demand for it, or it’s simply too much for the grid to handle.
Curtailment has become a serious issue in Brazil since 2023. The country has added many new solar and wind farms in recent years. But electricity demand has not grown at the same speed, and grid infrastructure has not kept up. As a result, renewable energy companies have lost billions of reais because they cannot sell all the power they generate.
To solve this problem at Assu Sol, ENGIE is looking for what it calls “offtakers.” These are companies that would use electricity directly at the solar site. Eduardo Sattamini, ENGIE’s country manager in Brazil, explained the company’s approach. “We are looking at some possible offtakers,” he said during a call with journalists.
Two main options are being considered. The first is battery storage systems. Batteries can store extra electricity when production is high and release it later when demand increases. This can, in theory, help reduce waste and improve profits.
The second option is bitcoin mining. This option includes installing ASICs at the site and using the extra power to mine bitcoin. These machines consume a lot of electricity, but they can be turned on and off very quickly. That flexibility makes them useful for solar plants, which do not produce steady power all the time.
In this case, bitcoin mining is not mainly about investing in the digital asset. Instead, it is about using extra electricity that would otherwise go to waste or harm the infrastructure. Mining machines could operate when there is surplus power and shut down when the grid needs the energy.
Brazil’s recent policy changes may also support this idea. The country’s foreign trade council has reduced import taxes to zero on high-efficiency bitcoin mining equipment until January 2028. This could make it cheaper to build mining facilities near the solar plant.
Still, ENGIE says this is not a short-term plan. Building new infrastructure takes time. Companies would need to construct data centers or install large battery systems close to the solar facility. “That’s not coming next month,” Sattamini said. “It will take a couple of years for us to implement.”
ENGIE is a major player in Brazil’s energy market. It is the largest non-state-owned utility company in the country and operates 11 energy complexes. Across Brazil, the company manages nearly 9,000 megawatts of installed capacity through its majority stake in ENGIE Brazil.
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