Image: Genesis Mining / PR Newswire · Original source.
Renewables and heat reuse
Genesis Mining and Swedish research and municipal partners developed a demonstration linking a mining container with a greenhouse. The project explored local food production using recovered heat.
- Project at a glance
- 300 m² initial greenhouse design
- Source date and context
- Pilot announced 15 December 2020
- Published financial detail
- The sources reviewed do not include full project accounts.
- Our comparison
- A UK example per 1,000 miner kWh
About 5 minutes to read
Testing the idea in northern Sweden
The Boden project brought together a mining operator, researchers and local partners to test heating a greenhouse from a nearby mining container. The initial greenhouse design covered 300 m². The 2020 announcement discussed what the system might support in a cold Swedish climate, including calculations for larger growing areas. Those calculations help explain the design; they are not a record of commercial harvests.
“hopefully the results will show that it's very possible to scale up into large commercial production.”
Moving warm air into the greenhouse
The connection is an air duct, but making it work for plants takes more than delivering warm air. Ventilation removes moisture and changes the heating requirement. Cold nights, equipment outages and summer conditions all need provision. A grower considering a similar system would need crop and energy measurements over a full season before estimating a dependable saving.
What the numbers could look like in the UK
The calculation below uses assumed UK prices to show how the costs fit together. It is our example, not this project’s reported earnings. Replace the inputs with current machine estimates and the costs at your own site.
Illustrative UK calculation
Income and running costs
1,000 kWh used by miners, plus 50 kWh for pumps and fans. All amounts in pounds.
Operating contributionBefore equipment and installation costs
−£9.60−0.96p per miner kWh
This example buys electricity at 12p/kWh and values useful heat at 6p/kWh. These are assumed prices. The heat value should be replaced with the actual cost of the heating you would otherwise use, or the price a customer agrees to pay.
| Mining income | 8p per miner kWh; an assumed rate, not a live earnings estimate |
|---|---|
| Electricity | 12p/kWh × 1,050 kWh = £126.00 |
| Pool fee | 2% of gross mining income |
| Useful heat | 80% of miner electricity = 800 kWh; valued at 6p per delivered kWh |
| Other running costs | £10 per 1,000 miner kWh; an allowance to replace with your own costs |
| Costs still to add | Equipment, installation, finance, tax, depreciation, major replacements and any costs above the allowance |
The contribution is what remains from mining income and useful heat after the stated running costs. It is not net profit: the equipment and other excluded costs still have to be recovered. Pumps and fans use electricity but earn no mining income in this calculation.
| Gross income per miner kWh | Without heat value | With useful heat |
|---|---|---|
| 5p | −£87.00 | −£39.00 |
| 8p Chart example | −£57.60 | −£9.60 |
| 11p | −£28.20 | £19.80 |
- Mining income needed to cover running costs
- 8.98pper miner kWh
- Highest electricity cost or export value supported
- 11.09pper total electricity kWh
These are two ways to read the same example. Adding equipment costs or a larger maintenance allowance raises the income needed and reduces the electricity price the project can afford.
Compare heating options and work out annual costs
Use the heating system you would actually choose as the comparison. For example, a heat pump using electricity at 20p/kWh with a seasonal COP of 3 has an electricity cost of about 6.67p per kWh of heat. A resistance heater at that tariff uses 20p per kWh of heat. These are calculation examples, rather than measurements from this project.
For an annual estimate, use the miner electricity expected during hours when running makes sense. Scale the contribution by annual miner kWh divided by 1,000, then deduct fixed annual costs. Recalculate if electricity prices, mining income or usable heat change.
Simple payback is the total installed cost divided by positive annual cash contribution. There is no payback under a scenario with zero or negative contribution. The sources reviewed here do not provide the full project accounts needed to calculate an actual payback for this installation.
A whole growing season is the useful test
Crop humidity, ventilation and winter design temperatures matter alongside available heat.
Measure inside and outside temperatures, humidity, delivered heat, auxiliary electricity and crop outcomes over winter and summer. Keep modelled expansion capacity separate from the observed pilot.
Questions worth asking
- What heat is available during a miner outage?
- Does the chosen ventilation strategy preserve the required growing conditions?
Try your own electricity and heat figures
Compare available miners and dated earnings estimates. Include heat only where you can use it or have a customer for it.
Sources and photographs
Sources checked on 29 September 2026. Project facts and quotations come from the publications below; the UK calculations and practical assessment are The Mining Shop’s analysis. This article is based on published material, rather than a site visit.
Photographs: Genesis Mining / PR Newswire (source).
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