Welcome back! This is Canaan’s weekly update on Bitcoin mining, energy, and compute infrastructure.

In the early 2020s, renewables were often discussed through the language of ESG. That label has clearly lost force amid political backlash, weaker fund flows, and rebranding across sustainable finance. But the underlying economics have continued to improve. According to IRENA, 91% of newly commissioned utility-scale renewable capacity in 2024 delivered power at a lower cost than the cheapest new fossil-fuel alternative.

What the recent AI boom has done is raise the market’s sensitivity to power quality. Large data centers require reliable, high-availability electricity, and intermittent generation alone is not sufficient. Renewables can supply a growing share of data-center demand, but only when paired with efficient storage, transmission, and grid support. Dispatchable sources remain critical for delivering firm power.

The constraint is not necessarily whether renewables are economic. It’s whether they are integrated properly into systems designed for always-on compute.

Infrastructure players aren’t just pursuing firm capacity aggressively. They’re also trying to integrate. OpenAI has indicated that future data center projects will aim to avoid pushing electricity costs onto local grids through dedicated supply and demand-response participation.

Soluna’s recent acquisition of a ~150 MW Texas wind farm designed to power both AI and bitcoin data centers is a clear example of renewables remaining strategic when paired with the right load profile.

This is where flexibility becomes the key differentiator for renewable energy projects. AI workloads require continuity. Bitcoin mining does not.

Flexible loads can absorb excess generation, monetize curtailment, and respond to grid stress, while always-on compute cannot. Not only is the renewable energy trend not dead - it’s actually entering a more mature phase.

The next phase is not just about building more capacity. It is about integration. Batteries, curtailment, transmission, and flexible compute will determine how effectively renewable generation is monetized and scaled. In that system, different types of compute loads play fundamentally different roles—and understanding that distinction is becoming critical for both energy and infrastructure investors.

Renewable energy has gone from being mostly an environmental narrative to an infrastructure and cost discipline story. As power demand continues to increase from AI/HPC data centers, there is no doubt that flexible loads such as Bitcoin miners will play an increasingly important role in the evolution of renewable energy.

The A3255-Q48 was the ASIC at the heart of the Avalon2, the second generation of the Avalon Bitcoin miners. Built on a 55nm process, each chip packed 128 hash units into a tiny 7×7mm QFN48 package, delivering around 1–1.5 GH/s.

What made it special wasn't just the specs: the entire hardware design was open-source, spawning a global DIY mining scene where hobbyists designed their own boards and soldered together homemade miners. The chip was the brainchild of Canaan’s Founder and CEO, NG Zhang, who was a PhD candidate in electrical engineering who had just shipped the world's first consumer ASIC Bitcoin miner.