Daylight, a project centered around a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) aimed at building a distributed solar energy grid, has successfully secured $75 million to enhance its solar coverage network across the United States.
Daylight provides solar energy as a subscription service, eliminating the significant upfront costs associated with purchasing and installing panels and batteries, which can exceed $30,000 for consumers. The project’s testnet was launched in 2024.
The revenue model for the network is based on its subscription service and generating income by returning surplus energy to the power grid. Customers can earn “sun points” for their contributions to the decentralized solar grid, with plans to roll out a token in the near future.
This funding round features backing from venture capital firms including Framework Ventures, a16z Crypto, Lerer Hippeau, M13, Room40 Ventures, EV3, and Turtle Hill Capital, as stated in an announcement from Daylight.
DePINs illustrate the practical applications of decentralized technology, aligning the interests of consumers and businesses to foster community-owned infrastructure that can rival traditional centralized systems.
Related: SEC recognizes DePIN tokens as ‘fundamentally’ outside its jurisdiction
The existing energy grid is inadequate for high-performance computing requirements
High-performance computing facilities, including artificial intelligence data centers and crypto mining operations, demand substantial energy, which burdens the power grid.
The growing energy demand from the technology sector has the potential to drive consumer prices higher. In fact, wholesale energy prices near data centers have skyrocketed by 267% since 2020, according to Bloomberg.
According to Greg Osuri, founder of Akash Network—an open-source platform where users can buy and sell computing power—AI training and the centralized data centers powering AI could spark a global energy crisis, as he shared with Cointelegraph.
The answer lies in decentralizing the data center industry by sourcing computing power from distributed locations, including consumer-grade PCs with graphics cards and businesses using industrial-grade processors.
“Once the proper incentives are established, this will take off in a manner similar to mining,” he remarked to Cointelegraph in September.
Major tech companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are already investigating alternative energy sources to power their AI data centers and lessen their reliance on the electrical grid.
In June, Amazon secured a deal with Talen Energy for 1,920 megawatts (MW) of nuclear energy for its AI data centers and service facilities in Pennsylvania.
Magazine: Blockchain initiatives that are making renewable energy a reality
