Bitcoin Bulls Offer a Counterintuitive Cure for Texas Power Grid

Texas has an excellent combination of renewable power generation and Laissez fair regulation, making its power rates very low. The low rates attract innovators and cryptocurrency miners. However, the State’s search for cheap power affects its preparation against winter storms. Now cryptocurrency miners are proposing counterintuitive ways to support the grid.

BTC Bulls Propose Alternative Ways to Run Texas Power Grid

Texas State is among the few places in the world where electricity bills are low. The State uses renewable power sources like solar energy and wind power generation to cut electricity generation costs. However, the State is left in bad condition during the winter as renewable sources reduce their power generation by far. BTC miners are proposing counterintuitive ways to support the grid. They have proposed that firms that require high power usage like crypto mining should minimize their needs during the winter. For example, a BTC miner may choose to slow down operations when the market is tighter. The miner can go full throttle when the market is plentiful and has cheap power charges. Mostly during sunny and windy hours. This technique would reduce the pressure on the grid and ensure that power is available at all times. Additionally, when the mining operations go full throttle on a plentiful market, it will increase power usage and prevent bill rates from being too low. Slowing down operations during unfavorable weather would also prevent spikes in power rates.

Can the BTC Miners’ Proposal Work?

IdeaSmiths LLC, a power systems analysis firm, recently published a white paper detailing how the proposals could work. In the paper, 5 gigawatts of flexible data centers that can rapidly ramp up or down their power use could greatly support the grid. The paper detailed that such an operation would foster the usage of renewable power on the grid, maintaining low rates. The data centers could also reduce the total carbon emissions from the State as natural gas-fired power would be rarely required. Therefore, the power rates would also remain lower. Cryptocurrency miners can comply with the proposals more easily than industries since they have lesser physical processes. However, they would still incur opportunity costs for being offline.

Uncertainties Surrounding the Future of Crypto Mining in Texas 

Even though cryptocurrency miners could help support the grid by improving the economics of the existing generators, it is not certain if they would encourage new power generation. Solar and wind power companies usually sign contracts with buyers to cover their construction budgets. During the installation of the Texas green energy generators, cryptos didn’t exist. If the renewable power generators hesitate to increase power generation, crypto mining may eventually increase the demand for conventional generation. Cryptocurrency is also very sensitive to energy costs. Its miners may be required to stop operations once the network operator sounds the alarm, but it would even affect the price of the coins. That goes against Texas market competition spirit, making the situation more sensitive. Another important aspect to check while making the grid more resilient is the power usage among the citizens in the State. During winter, applications like water heating, room heating, insulation, and air conditioning should use highly efficient equipment. As compared to blockchain technology, these applications are monotonous but necessary. Therefore, common sense should not be disregarded while setting up new measures to improve the grid.