all about cryptop referances
On November 29, 2022, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) published a seasonality assessment and resource adequacy report for the ERCOT region. ERCOT’s study indicates that bitcoin mining is a flexible operation that could benefit the Texas grid during the upcoming winter and extreme peak load times.
The US organization that runs Texas’ electric grid, ERCOT, has published a study showing that bitcoin mining is contributing to direct response systems. The report’s researchers studied the installed generation capacity based on historical data and extreme peak load scenarios. The report indicates that bitcoin mining is able to curtail operations and offload approximately 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of energy during the Texas winter.
Other systems that utilize large electrical loads are unable to adapt to direct response needs, but bitcoin miners, on the other hand, are also known to shut down operations when they reach breakeven price levels between bitcoin’s spot price and production cost. “This breakeven cost was estimated at $86/MWh and is based on the economics of an Antminer S19 bitcoin mining rig as of early November,” ERCOT’s study details.
ERCOT is not the only grid operator to have studied direct response systems as the second largest US utility, Duke Energy Corporation, reportedly studied bitcoin mining in July. Duke’s principal analyst said bitcoin mining partnered with Duke to provide data for a bitcoin demand response (DR) study. That same month, bitcoin mining infrastructure provider Lancium revealed how its Texas operations can reduce the load in DR situations.
Lancium teamed up with Texas battery storage provider Broad Reach Power LLC, and when the grid is hit by extreme situations, the batteries keep Lancium’s facilities running without reducing computing power. Besides heavy loading times and extreme weather events, bitcoin miners provide a reliable stream of income to the network’s operators because they are constantly running around looking for bitcoins. ERCOT’s study shows that even with bitcoin miners exploiting electrical resources, grid operators believe there will be a sufficient amount of energy this winter.
“Assuming the ERCOT region experiences typical winter grid conditions, ERCOT expects that there will be sufficient installed generation capacity available to serve the system-wide peak demand forecast for the upcoming winter season, December 2022 – February 2023,” the report notes.
The news follows US lawmakers pressing ERCOT officials for information about bitcoin mining. The politicians believe that bitcoin mining affects so-called climate change, and they believe that bitcoin miners could possibly destabilize the Texas grid. ERCOT’s new CEO told the press that ERCOT wants “to be able to serve any business that wants to do business in Texas. And that includes crypto miners.”
The report from ERCOT shows that politicians are arguably wrong in their predictions of grid destabilization, as bitcoin mining facilities may be the only type of operation that can respond to DR situations in a short period of time.
ERCOT’s 22-page study on seasonality assessment and resource adequacy for the ERCOT region can be read in its entirety here.
What do you think of the report published by ERCOT? What do you think about bitcoin mining applied to direct response systems? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.
Image credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or an endorsement or recommendation of products, services or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
