Daylight, a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) initiative aimed at establishing a distributed solar energy grid, has secured $75 million to enhance its solar coverage across the United States.
Daylight provides solar energy through a subscription model, eliminating the substantial initial costs associated with purchasing and installing panels and batteries, which can exceed $30,000. The project’s testnet was launched in 2024.
The network generates revenue via its subscription-based energy service and by returning surplus energy to the power grid. Customers can earn “sun points” for their contributions to the decentralized solar grid, with plans to launch a token in the future.
This funding round includes notable venture capital firms such as Framework Ventures, a16z Crypto, Lerer Hippeau, M13, Room40 Ventures, EV3, and Turtle Hill Capital, as announced by Daylight.
DePINs demonstrate how decentralized technology can yield practical applications by aligning the interests of customers and businesses to form a resilient community-owned infrastructure that parallels the traditional centralized system.
Related: SEC clears DePIN tokens as ‘fundamentally’ outside jurisdiction
The existing energy grid cannot support high-performance computing demands
Artificial intelligence data centers and other high-performance computing operations, like crypto mining, necessitate considerable energy, putting pressure on the power grid.
This heightened demand from the tech industry may lead to increased prices for consumers. Wholesale energy costs near data centers have skyrocketed by 267% since 2020, according to Bloomberg.
AI training and the centralized data centers supporting AI could precipitate a global energy crisis, as noted by Greg Osuri, founder of Akash Network, an open-source marketplace where users can supply and acquire computing power, in a conversation with Cointelegraph.
The answer lies in the decentralization of the data center industry by utilizing distributed sources for computing power, including consumer-grade personal computers with graphics cards and enterprises employing industrial-grade processors.
“Once incentives are properly aligned, this will flourish like mining did,” he commented to Cointelegraph in September.
Major tech companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are already investigating alternative energy options to power their AI data centers and lessen their dependence on the electrical grid.
Amazon entered into an agreement with Talen Energy in June to acquire 1,920 megawatts (MW) of nuclear power for its AI data centers and operations in Pennsylvania.
Magazine: The blockchain projects making renewable energy a reality
