May 16, 2022
By Anjali Kochhar
After getting a notice from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, that Bitcoin miners had shut down some facilities and planned to keep them off when power was in high demand during the weekend, the Texas Blockchain Council, a trade association representing the Bitcoin mining industry in the city, announced Saturday.
This came a day after the ERCT on Friday asked consumers to conserve electricity through the end of the weekend. The decision came as six power plants went down unexpectedly Friday and with hot weather expected across the city during the weekend that passed.
Texans were asked to set their thermostats to 78 degrees or above between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m of their time the past weekend and to avoid using large appliances at home during those same times.
“In addition to bringing jobs and tax revenue to rural areas of Texas, many of which are in need of economic revitalisation, the bitcoin mining industry also provides greater grid resilience by acting as a controllable load,” said Lee Bratcher, the President of the Texas Blockchain Council.
“Bitcoin miners can turn off within just a few seconds which makes them a perfect resource for the grid regarding frequency balancing and demand response.”
Samantha Robertson, Business Development lead at Bitdeer said, “Due to unseasonably hot temperatures and unexpected drop in generation within the ERCOT system, Bitdeer powered down the entirety of our data center in Rockdale on Friday, except for capacity enrolled in responsive reserves. We expect that capacity to be called back and will immediately respond when prompted by ERCOT.”
As per the release, miners who were already enrolled in ancillary services within ERCOT were standing ready to power down at ERCOT’s direction.
“As the Bitcoin mining industry matures, more and more load will have the technical capability to take advantage of demand response and controllable load resources thereby creating more dispatchable load that can be used by all Texans at times of peak demand,” the release read.
About the author
Anjali Kochhar covers cryptocurrency stories in India as well as globally. Having been in the field of media and journalism for over three years now, she has developed a sharp news sense and works hard to present information that goes beyond the obvious. She is an avid reader and loves writing on a wide range of subjects.
