Somewhere deep in Zambia, a little hydroelectric plant hums quietly, sending electricity to 15,000 people. The Zengamina plant isn’t huge by global standards—it’s technically a mini-grid, an island of power in the middle of a community that desperately needs it.

Built in the early 2000s with $3 million in donations, it was the dream of British-Zambian Daniel Rea and his missionary family. But dreams don’t always pay the bills. Slow uptake from the local community meant much of the energy generated went unused, wasted on a continent where 600 million people still live without access to electricity.

It was here that Philip Walton saw a chance. Africa’s untapped renewable energy, combined with one of the world’s hungriest energy monsters, Bitcoin mining, was his eureka moment.

In 2022, Walton, Erik Hersman, and Janet Maingi launched Gridless, a company that converts surplus renewable energy in rural Africa into cryptocurrency power.

Today, Gridless operates six Bitcoin mining sites across Kenya, Zambia, and Malawi, where Walton’s company is boosting local economies, powering households, and demonstrating that crypto mining can help drive Africa’s renewable-energy revolution.

Gridless expands energy access by partnering with local renewable power producers, especially mini-grid and hydro developers, buying excess electricity that would otherwise go unused.

“In places like Malawi, Kenya, or Ethiopia, there’s energy being generated that simply can’t be sold,” Walton explains. “Our model is simple: we take the electricity that communities aren’t using, mine Bitcoin with it, and turn that revenue back into the local energy system. The community always comes first.”

By acting as an anchor customer, Gridless guarantees small utilities a steady revenue stream, allowing them to expand generation capacity and lower electricity costs for nearby communities.

As supply grows, households and small businesses gain reliable, affordable energy, while miners use only surplus electricity that the community doesn’t immediately need.

In southern Malawi, for example, Gridless partnered with a micro-hydropower system. Once mining began, the station could provide electricity for 500 more households. Another hydro site in Kenya cut prices by nearly a third.

“About 600 million Africans have no access to electricity,” Walton notes. “The private sector has stepped in because the main grids do not reach everyone on the continent.”

Operating in a relatively nascent sector on a developing continent comes with its fair share of hurdles. One of Gridless’s biggest challenges was ensuring that Bitcoin mining never competes with local communities for power. Now, its advanced mining computers operate only when there’s surplus electricity.

If a village maize mill switches on and local demand rises, the machines automatically pause. When demand drops, mining resumes.

“That was a major technical challenge we had to solve,” Walton says. “But now every unit of energy is monetised without ever taking away from the people we serve.”

Regulation, Walton notes, is less of a hurdle than one might expect. Most data centres aren’t directly regulated, and Gridless converts mined Bitcoin to local currency before compensating energy providers.

“Even in Ethiopia, where Bitcoin as a financial system is tightly restricted, it’s still the largest mining market on the continent,” he explains. “There’s a difference between Bitcoin as a payment system and Bitcoin as an economic driver for energy. We are very clearly in the latter camp.”

Investing in Bitcoin mining, especially the kind of projects Gridless operates, is indeed expensive, and there are several reasons for this.

Setting up mining operations requires costly specialised hardware, reliable infrastructure, and robust energy supply.

However, Walton’s model has drawn two types of investors. First, energy veterans who have struggled to make renewable projects financially viable, and Bitcoin enthusiasts who see broader technological potential beyond speculation.

“One of our investors has been in energy for 20 years,” Walton recounts. “They’d tried everything else, but nothing worked. When we proposed using Bitcoin mining to make projects viable, it seemed radical, but ultimately, it was the solution.”

Gridless is also backed by Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of X (formerly Twitter). His company, Block, co-led a $2 million seed investment with the venture capital firm Stillmark, providing both credibility and the financial support needed to scale its energy-focused Bitcoin mining operations.

Thanks to cheap electricity and strong partnerships with local energy producers, Gridless can stay profitable even when the market dips.

Africa is quickly becoming a hotspot for global Bitcoin miners, thanks to some of the world’s cheapest green energy. Ethiopia, for instance, offers electricity at just 3.2 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Right now, East Africa dominates the scene. Ethiopia leads in sheer hashrate, accounting for 2.5% of the global total. Numbers from Ethiopia Electric Power show the country raked in over $55 million from electricity sales for Bitcoin mining in 2024 alone—18% of their total revenue.

That money is being poured into strategic infrastructure, expanding transmission lines and distribution networks, helping close Ethiopia’s rural electrification gap, which still left access at just 43% back in 2021.

Back at Zambia’s Zengamina plant, Bitcoin mining now makes up roughly 30% of the station’s revenue, helping keep electricity affordable for the local community.

While the sector offers growth, it has also drawn criticism. Bitcoin mining is energy-intensive, consuming more electricity annually than countries like Argentina or the Netherlands.

A 2023 study by the Global Energy Monitor found crypto mining in Africa often prioritises profit over people, locking in cheap, long-term power through opaque deals with state utilities.

Walton isn’t thinking small. His vision for Gridless stretches across the entire continent. Over the next decade, the company plans to launch new renewable energy projects and take over struggling facilities in Africa. “A lot of developers are waiting on Western donors or cheap loans,” he says. “We say energy works on its own, it’s economically viable.”

In the next five years, Gridless aims to become Africa’s biggest energy owner, building and buying projects while using Bitcoin mining to keep them profitable. “Our long-term goal is simple,” Walton adds. “Wherever we operate, communities thrive, energy flows reliably, and renewable power keeps growing. Bitcoin is just the engine that makes it all possible.”