With many parts of Texas enduring days of temperatures well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in July, many cryptocurrency miners have shut down operations in anticipation that the state’s power grid will be unable to keep up with demand.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, asked Texas residents and businesses Sunday to conserve power as “record power demand” is expected Monday. According to ERCOT forecasts, the demand for electricity in Texas – due in part to the operation of air conditioning systems in the midst of extreme heat – could exceed the available supply.
The power supplier prediction model showed that demand could reach a record 79,615 megawatts (MW). Although energy costs in Texas in June were reportedly down due to increased wind and solar production, ERCOT reported Sunday that wind generation was “generating significantly less than it has historically generated in this time period,” less than 8% of capacity when demand was forecast to be highest.
Many cryptocurrency miners in the Lone Star State have announced that they have already scaled back or shut down operations in anticipation of demand that the Texas energy grid may not be ready to handle. In a Monday announcement on Twitter, cryptocurrency miner Core Scientific said that it had shut down all of its ASIC equipment located in the state until further notice “to provide relief to the people of Texas.”
To provide relief to people in Texas, ALL of Core Scientific ASIC servers located in the state have been powered down. Core Scientific’s ASIC servers in Texas comprise less than 15% of our footprint, and will remain powered down until further notice.
—Core Scientific (@Core_Scientific) July 11, 2022
To relieve the people of Texas, ALL Core Scientific ASIC servers located in the state have been shut down. Core Scientific’s ASIC servers in Texas comprise less than 15% of our footprint, and will remain down until further notice.
A spokesperson for Riot Blockchain told Cointelegraph that its Whinstone facility in Rockdale had reduced energy use at the request of ERCOT during the summer months, consuming 8,648 MWh less. Argo Blockchain CEO Peter Wall also said that the firm had also scaled back operations in the state – likely referring to its Helios facility in Dickens County.
“In times of high energy demand, we believe that people should take precedence over cryptocurrency mining,” Wall told Cointelegraph. “When ERCOT sends out a conservation alert, we take it seriously and scale back our mining operations. We did it again this afternoon, as did many of our partners in the mining space.”
#demand response is critical. In the coming years, bitcoin mining will become an indispensable tool in the reliability tool belt. pic.twitter.com/cEicdzodO2
— Lee ₿ratcher (@lee_bratcher) July 8, 2022
Demand response is critical. In the coming years, bitcoin mining will become an indispensable tool in the reliability tool belt.
Mining companies operating in Texas during the winter months have faced similar challenges since 2021, when frigid temperatures nearly shut down the entire network; instead, many parts of the state were without power for days. In February, Riot announced that it had shut down 99% of its operations before a repeat of the blizzard, which is expected to demand some 50,000 MW of electricity, 62% of what Texans could try to get off the grid next year. Monday.
ERCOT’s announcement came as many cryptocurrency mining companies continue to set up new operations in Texas, apparently lured by less regulatory oversight and lower energy costs. In June, Riot Blockchain said it planned to “ship the rest of its fleet of S19 miners” from New York to Texas, and cryptocurrency mining company Switzerland-based White Rock Management announced that it will expand its operations to the United States, starting with Texas.
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