Bridging Africa's Energy Future with Innovative Solutions

African countries have the daunting task of increasing their electrical generation by as high as 10 times their current capacity and building out transmission and distribution infrastructure over massive land areas to connect the 45% of people yet to be connected to the grid. To achieve that goal, they must consider factors like the pace of development, high costs of capital, purchasing electricity for resale at negative margins, and ensuring there is demand for the expanded capacity years before it is built.

We at Bridger Solutions believe we have the answers for many of these seemingly unanswerable problems. We are an American company committed to utilizing datacenters conducting Bitcoin mining to assist with energy development in Africa. The mixture of novel technology of Bitcoin mining and our status as part of an American business joint venture allows us to help African energy stakeholders in ways no other partners can.

Our datacenters consist of retrofitted 40-foot shipping containers which can be adapted to practically any geography. The most important attribute for internet connections to Bitcoin datacenters is low latency rather than high bandwidth, so a satellite connection is sufficient. This confluence of factors means we can place our datacenters directly at the source of generation, or a substation of the utility’s choosing, which allows us to monetize energy that no other offtaker can.

While this feature alleviates temporary transmission bottlenecks, the long-term benefit should not be underestimated. Our purchases of electricity can be built into expansion plans, so lost revenue due to future transmission bottlenecks never exists. This is pivotal given the scale of expansion that needs to occur for countries to meet their electrification goals.

African countries are forced to denominate their debt and power purchased from IPPs in U.S. Dollars even though they sell to their customers priced in the local currency, creating a currency fluctuation risk. As an American consortium, we denominate and pay for power in Dollars. This not only lessens the fluctuation risk but also provides Dollar liquidity for future projects. Additionally, a contract from an American company with regularly programmed payments of Dollars can be used as collateral for lines of credit.

Beyond making the utility bankable, Bridger brings other benefits to the partner nation. We only hire local workers, creating dozens or even hundreds of jobs. To accomplish this effort, we create technical skills academies teaching datacenter maintenance, information technology, and coding. We will hire graduates of these academies, but train more than we need therefore boosting the technical knowledgebase. 

There are many ways that our projects bolster the host country’s economy. Our projects start with tens of millions of foreign direct investment and expand over the length of the partnership. We incorporate a subsidiary in the nation which, along with our employees, increases tax receipts. We believe that our projects can act as an example for American companies working in other business sectors setting up foreign operations.

All of these advantages make us confident we can negotiate an affordable tariff, creating true mutual benefit. We believe the greatest value is created on both sides the longer the partnership lasts. We are excited to provide solutions for the numerous obstacles standing between African nations and the energy necessary to spur future productivity.