Bitcoin Mining Powers Remote Zambia with Clean Energy and Community Growth

In the far north-western corner of Zambia, where the Zambezi River roars through rugged terrain, an unexpected sound pierces the lush bush. Amid the crashing water, a high-pitched hum emanates from a shipping container packed with 120 computers. This is no ordinary setup—it’s a Bitcoin mine, and it’s transforming both the local economy and the energy landscape.

Philip Walton, who oversees the operation, grins as he describes the noise. “It’s the sound of money,” he says, watching the ASIC mining machines churn through calculations to play a lottery to try to win Bitcoin block rewards, while also verifying transactions in the process.

In Bitcoin mining, miners use these special mining machines called ASIC’s to search for a “nonce”—a unique number that, when hashed with a block’s data using the SHA-256 algorithm, yields a hash with enough leading zeros to meet the network’s difficulty target, which adjusts every 2016 blocks to maintain 10-minute block times. The challenge isn’t solving complex math problems as many mistakenly say it is. SHA-256 is a simple algorithm, but the vast number of guesses needed to find the nonce, makes it more of a brute-force lottery where success depends on raw computing power and luck.

This remote mining site, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, stands out as one of the most unusual Bitcoin mines imaginable. Water and electronics rarely make good neighbors, yet the Zambezi’s proximity is exactly what lured Walton’s Kenya-based company, Gridless, to this spot. The mine taps directly into the Zengamina hydroelectric power plant, which harnesses the river’s relentless flow to produce clean, continuous electricity.

More crucially for the business, that power comes at a bargain price. It’s so affordable that Gridless hauled its delicate equipment over 14 hours of rough, narrow roads from the nearest major city to set up shop. Each Bitcoin mining machine earns about five dollars a day—sometimes more when Bitcoin’s value spikes, sometimes less when it dips. Walton occasionally checks his smartwatch, tracking Bitcoin’s fluctuating price, currently hovering around $82,000 per coin. Even when the market slumps, the low-cost energy and a strategic partnership with the power company keep the operation profitable.

A Partnership That Powers More Than Just Machines

The Zengamina plant itself is a marvel, a massive yet technically mini-grid system that operates independently, serving roughly 15,000 people in the surrounding community.

Built in the early 2000s with three million dollars in charitable donations, largely from UK churches, it was spearheaded by British-Zambian Daniel Rea and his missionary family to electrify a local hospital. Today, it does much more, though it struggled financially for years due to limited local uptake. More than half its potential energy went unused daily, leaving operational costs unmet. That changed when Gridless arrived. “We needed a major power user,” Rea explains. “Partnering with them was a game-changer.” The Bitcoin mine now generates about 30% of the plant’s revenue, stabilizing its finances and keeping electricity affordable for the nearby town.

In Zengamina town, a few miles from the plant, life revolves around a modest crossroads dotted with shed-like buildings. Electricity, only recently widespread, has sparked tangible change. Barber Damian, wired up just 18 months ago, recalls a time when he had nothing. Now, his tiny shop glows at night with a TV blasting music videos, strings of Christmas lights, and the steady buzz of his clippers.

“Getting power changed my life,” he says, noting how his earnings now cover school fees. Sisters Tumba and Lucy Machayi, often seen chatting at the crossroads, remember when the town relied on small solar panels. “No fridge, no TV, no phone network,” Tumba says. Lucy adds, “Electricity opened up communication—everything’s different now.” Few locals know about the Bitcoin mine, but its role in sustaining the plant ripples through their daily lives.

The Bitcoin mining days here may be numbered, though. With new investment, Zengamina Hydro plans to expand to more villages and connect to the national grid, selling its excess energy there instead. Gridless, unfazed, sees this as a win; after a profitable stint, they’ll move their container to another site with untapped energy. The company already operates six such locations across three African countries, including one in Congo’s Virunga National Park, where mining supports conservation. Looking ahead, Gridless aims to build its own hydroelectric plants, raising millions to bring power and profit to rural areas.