Hybrid Hydropower–PV with Mining Flexibility and Heat Recovery: Article 6-Ready Mitigation Pathways in Central Asia

Seung-Jun Lee, Tae-Yun Kim, Jun-Sik Cho, Ji-Sung Kim and Hong-Sik Yun ()
Additional contact information
Seung-Jun Lee: Geodesy Laboratory, Civil & Architectural and Environmental System Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea
Tae-Yun Kim: Geodesy Laboratory, Civil & Architectural and Environmental System Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea
Jun-Sik Cho: Disaster & Risk Management Laboratory, Interdisciplinary Program in Crisis & Disaster and Risk Management, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea
Ji-Sung Kim: School of Geography, Faculty of Environment, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Hong-Sik Yun: Geodesy Laboratory, Civil & Architectural and Environmental System Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 16419, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-33

Abstract: The global transition to renewable energy requires hybrid solutions that address variability while delivering tangible co-benefits and verifiable mitigation outcomes. This study evaluates a novel small hydropower–photovoltaic (SHP–PV) hybrid system in the Kyrgyz Republic that integrates flexible Bitcoin mining loads and waste-heat recovery for greenhouse heating. A techno-economic model was developed for a 10 MW configuration, allocating annual net generation of 57.34 GWh between grid export and on-site mining through a single decision parameter. Mitigation accounting applies a combined margin grid factor of 0.4–0.7 tCO 2 /MWh for exported electricity and a diesel factor of 0.26–0.27 tCO 2 /MWh_fuel for heat displacement, yielding Article 6–eligible reductions from both electricity and recovered heat. Waste-heat recovery from mining supplies ≈15 MWh_th/year to a 50 m 2 greenhouse, displacing diesel use and demonstrating visible sustainable development co-benefits. Economic analysis reproduces annual revenues of ≈$1.9 million, with a levelized cost of electricity of $48/MWh and an indicative IRR of ~6%, consistent with positive but modest returns under merchant operation and uplift potential under mixed allocations. This study concludes that componentized accounting—exported electricity credited under grid displacement and diesel displacement credited from recovered heat—ensures Article 6 integrity and positions SHP–PV hybrids as replicable, multi-service renewable models for Central Asia. Unlike prior hybrid studies that treat generation, economics, and mitigation separately, our framework integrates allocation (α), financial outcomes, and Article 6 carbon accounting within a unified structure, while explicitly modeling Bitcoin mining as an endogenous flexible load with thermal recovery—advancing methodological approaches for multi-service renewable systems in climate policy contexts.

Keywords: article 6 carbon markets; flexible demand (bitcoin mining); hybrid renewable systems; photovoltaics (pv); small hydropower (shp); techno-economic analysis; waste-heat recovery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/21/9488/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/21/9488/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:21:p:9488-:d:1779237

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().