According to the Texas Blockchain Association president, the collective move returns more than 1% of Texas’ power back to commercial and retail users. Nearly all of the Bitcoin industrial-level miners in Texas fulfilled their promise to cease operations while they wait for a heat wave to hit Texas.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas , which is responsible for managing Texas’ grid, requested yesterday from residents of Texas that they try to conserve energy to avoid rolling blackouts like those that plagued Texas in the past. In 2021, for example, several hundred people died due to power outages during severe winter storms.
Texas set an all time record for energy consumption on Friday. It consumed 78,206 megawatts (reported ). The previous unofficial record for energy use was set July 5, at 77.460 megawatts.
Lee Bratcher, president, Texas Blockchain Association, stated to Bloomberg, that more than 1,000 megawatts of mining load had already responded to the state’s request. He stated that this represents almost all the industrial-scale Bitcoin mining load in Texas, and allows for more than 1% of total grid capability to be pushed back onto grid for commercial and retail use.
Because of its liberal regulations and welcoming leadership, Texas is now a top U.S. destination for miners. New York, which is its only competitor by hash rate (a measure computing power), has put carbon-based mining at a disadvantage after the state senate placed a two-year moratorium.
Although Governor Kathy Hochul has the final say, Kevin Zhang from Bitcoin mining company Foundry said CNBC last week that he believes that miners have been scared away by the state because of such policies.
Greg Abbott, Texas governor, has chosen a different approach that is arguably counter-intuitive. Abbott believes that bringing more miners to Texas’ Lone Star state could fix its long-term unstable grid by encouraging the creation of more power generation plants.
Riot Blockchain and Argo Blockchain are just a few of the miners that the state has. Core Scientific is another. Many of these companies were forced to sell large amounts of Bitcoin last month, despite a prosperous 2021. This was due to the collapse of bear-market revenues.
