Bitcoin mining as a flexibility component for industry and the energy transition at the VIK Network Baden-Württemberg – impetus from UTXO Solutions
On February 18, 2026, the 7th meeting of the VIK Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection Network Baden-Württemberg took place at Heidelberg Materials. The meeting discussed how Bitcoin mining can be used to relieve the grid, utilize surplus energy and generate heat economically.
The VIK (Association of the Industrial Energy and Power Industry) is a cross-sector trade association of industrial and commercial energy users in Germany. It brings together around 200+ member companies and is regarded as the central voice of industry on energy and climate issues due to its energy-intensive sector base. According to its own information and official statements, the association represents a very large part of the industrial energy reality, including around 80 % of industrial electricity consumption and around 90 % of electricity generation in Germany, regardless of the supplier.
Peter Rochel from our member company UTXO Solutions provided the technical impetus. UTXO Solutions works on concrete implementation logic in the fields of industry, energy and Bitcoin use cases. For the Bitcoin Bundesverband, the topic is not a cultural battle over “crypto”. It is an energy, efficiency and infrastructure issue. The focus is on the ability of mining systems to ramp loads up and down within a very short time. This is precisely what makes flexibility applications economically and operationally feasible in practice.
Industry use cases: flexibility, hybrid data centers and heat utilization
Several areas of application were discussed in greater depth:
- System-serving flexible loads to absorb surplus or curtailment energy
- Hybrid data center models in which an HPC base load is combined with mining flexibility
- Heat extraction as an additional economic lever, especially with predictable heat consumption in industrial processes
One focus was on the economic decision-making logic. Electricity costs, heat consumption, operating hours, integration costs and regulatory and communication risks determine feasibility. During the discussion, it became clear that pilot and reference projects play a key role in acceptance and scaling.
CSRD/ESG connection: auditability and governance
Another focus was on the question of how flexibility and heat concepts with mining can be documented and managed in compliance with CSRD/ESRS. Requirements for auditable key figures, governance, risk and communication management were discussed. The aim is to ensure that projects in industrial environments are resilient and auditable.
Resonance beyond the VIK: Multiplication via industry associations
The discussion showed that the topic is perceived as having cross-industry appeal. In particular, it was pointed out that other industry associations have a high level of interest in specific flexibility and heating solutions. This opens up a scaling path via association structures. Not via fundamental debates, but via concrete, industry-compatible use cases.
Bitcoin Bundesverband: Focus on problem solving and partner architecture
The Bitcoin Bundesverband sees such industry-compatible use cases as a relevant building block for addressing conflicting energy policy objectives with real solutions: curtailment, grid bottlenecks, efficiency, heat, resilience. The decisive factor here is a factual translation service. Mining acts as an enabler for flexibility and sector coupling, embedded in industrial operating and reporting realities.
The association is examining how cooperation formats can be developed from this together with industry players and associations, e.g. webinars, roundtables or working groups. Member companies contribute their practical expertise in order to derive concrete pilot and reference paths from discussion events.
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