Itau Ventures invests in Minter to mine curtailed renewables

Itau Ventures has committed up to $10 million to Minter to fund mobile data centers that will mine bitcoin using curtailed solar and wind energy at generation sites across Brazil and later the United States. The funding will support deployment of containerized computing hardware placed where renewable generators produce surplus power.

Itau Unibanco’s venture arm provided the financing. Minter intends to place portable data center and mining equipment directly inside renewable parks to convert curtailed output into a revenue stream for generators. The company relocates hardware from fixed facilities into mobile containers that can operate near wind and solar farms to capture intermittent or curtailed output.

Minter currently serves one customer and projects it will reach about 40 megawatts of capacity by the end of the year, with a target of 500 megawatts by 2029 across Brazil and the United States.

Brazil curtailed roughly 20% of solar and wind output in 2025, which Itaú and Minter estimate equates to about $1.2 billion in lost generation. Industry estimates indicate the United States had about 20 million megawatt-hours curtailed in 2024, a level that creates commercial demand for flexible compute located at generation sites.

Minter’s containers are designed to switch on when excess energy is available and switch off when it is not. By colocating compute loads with generation, the company offers a flexible off-taker that operators can activate to monetize energy that would otherwise be curtailed or spilled.

“For our flexible model, it has been more profitable to position ourselves in bitcoin mining,” Minter CEO Stefano Sergole said. He added, “The Itaú seal helps encourage energy generators to feel comfortable opening their minds to the fact that a flexible data center within the parks can be a portfolio strategy.”