Texas Plans To Become the Bitcoin Capital, Vulnerable Power Grid and All (bloomberg.com) 119
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Texas, already home to the most vulnerable power grid in the U.S., is about to be hit by a surge in demand for electricity that's twice the size of Austin's. An army of cryptocurrency miners heading to the state for its cheap power and laissez-faire regulation is forecast to send demand soaring by as much as 5,000 megawatts over the next two years. The crypto migration to Texas has been building for months, but the sheer volume of power those miners will need -- two times more than the capital city of almost 1 million people consumed in all of 2020 -- is only now becoming clear.
The boom comes as the electrical system is already under strain from an expanding population and robust economy. Even before the new demand comes online, the state's grid has proven to be lethally unreliable. Catastrophic blackouts in February plunged millions into darkness for days, and, ultimately, led to at least 210 deaths. Proponents like Senator Ted Cruz and Governor Greg Abbott, both Republicans, say crypto miners are ultimately good for the grid, since they say the miners can soak up excess clean power and, when needed, can voluntarily throttle back in seconds to help avert blackouts. But it raises the question of what these miners will do when the state's electricity demand inevitably outstrips supply: Will they adhere to an honor system of curtailing their power use, especially when the Bitcoin price is itself so high, or will it mean even more pressure on an overwhelmed grid?
Miners setting up shop in the Lone Star State can often count on a 10-year tax abatement, sales tax credits and workforce training from the state, depending on where they are located and how many jobs they add. Even without formal incentives, the cheap power prices and the state's hands-off policy toward business is often enough of a lure. The pitch is working: The grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or Ercot, will account for about 20% of the Bitcoin network globally by the end of 2022, up from 8% to 10% today, according to Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain council. Right now, Ercot has somewhere between 500 and 1,000 megawatts of mining capacity, out of about 2,000 nationwide. The state grid will add another 3,000 to 5,000 megawatts of mining demand by the end of 2023, he said.
The boom comes as the electrical system is already under strain from an expanding population and robust economy. Even before the new demand comes online, the state's grid has proven to be lethally unreliable. Catastrophic blackouts in February plunged millions into darkness for days, and, ultimately, led to at least 210 deaths. Proponents like Senator Ted Cruz and Governor Greg Abbott, both Republicans, say crypto miners are ultimately good for the grid, since they say the miners can soak up excess clean power and, when needed, can voluntarily throttle back in seconds to help avert blackouts. But it raises the question of what these miners will do when the state's electricity demand inevitably outstrips supply: Will they adhere to an honor system of curtailing their power use, especially when the Bitcoin price is itself so high, or will it mean even more pressure on an overwhelmed grid?
Miners setting up shop in the Lone Star State can often count on a 10-year tax abatement, sales tax credits and workforce training from the state, depending on where they are located and how many jobs they add. Even without formal incentives, the cheap power prices and the state's hands-off policy toward business is often enough of a lure. The pitch is working: The grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or Ercot, will account for about 20% of the Bitcoin network globally by the end of 2022, up from 8% to 10% today, according to Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain council. Right now, Ercot has somewhere between 500 and 1,000 megawatts of mining capacity, out of about 2,000 nationwide. The state grid will add another 3,000 to 5,000 megawatts of mining demand by the end of 2023, he said.
Makes sense . (Score:1)
The demand for durable energy in a market is what creates the supply. So if the bitcoin people want durable energy, theyâ(TM)d want a market not invested in variable supply, but nuclear energy and natural gas. As a result, Texas gets a better grid, because you can put a residential zone without power (which is what California has gotten used to) but putting business without power gets the attention of the politicians.
Re:Makes sense . (Score:5, Funny)
This is correct. They also have an independent power grid so they can build what they want, not beholden to other States or the DC Regime, unlike most other locations.
What engineers understand, but the political types never will, is that a failure like they had recently was a stress test that shows how to fix their grid. They can plan and build with this new data.
By contrast, New England is due to run out of capacity in the next year or two and insane NIMBY regulators are stopping all attempts to prevent it. An Interstate ISO really fucks things up when regulations are intrastate. It's a Tragedy of the Commons imposed on an unaware population by dimwitted politicos.
Re:Makes sense . (Score:5, Insightful)
Texas hasn't learned a goddamn thing.
https://www.usatoday.com/story... [usatoday.com]
Blackouts in 1989. Recommendation: Winterize plants
Nah it happens once a century, we're good.
Blackouts in 2011. Recommendation: Winterize plants
Nah once a century event, never happens again
Blackouts in 2021: Recommendation: Winterize plants
FUCK YOU WE'RE TEXAS YOU CAN'T TELL US WHAT TO DO. THIS WAS CAUSED BY WINDMILLS AND DEMOCRATS!
"These recommendations were not mandatory, and over the course of time implementation lapsed," said the August 2011 report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, titled "Report on Outages and Curtailments During the Southwest Cold Weather Event of February 1-5, 2011."
That's what happens when you put your crony buddies in charge of "enforcing" regulations of utilities. Just remember, Texas sued the federal government for the right to fuck up their grid.
Re:Makes sense . (Score:5, Informative)
2021
2014
2011 - National news
2000 - Dec 25th
1994 - Feb 9th
1989
1978 - Dec 31
1948
1937
ERCOT is a State of Texas organized RICO organization. Power companies are not penalized when they fail to provide power they signed up to provide just hours earlier and they can game the system to charge a ridiculous $6000/KWhr. The very fact that "R" stands for Reliability is a joke. It should be "P" for profitability.
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What made national news during the Super Bowl was the fact that the state was snowed under. That's what a lot of people were expecting with the last winter storm because they've never experienced blackouts from winter weather.
Storms during hail and hurricane season tend to cause much more predictable carnage.
Re: Makes sense . (Score:2)
Part of that was natural gas prices spiking, because they shut down before the freeze apparently, and then froze. Idk, it was in the news, that was a big part of the ridiculous costs the power companies had to deal with.
Here you go https://arstechnica.com/tech-p... [arstechnica.com]
Re: Makes sense . (Score:2)
The people charged excessive rates for electricity in Texas this year were charged actual rates on the SPOT market. Prior to the 'big freeze' these people ran around bragging about how cheap their electric bills were, then the market inverted and they got screwed.
They CHOSE to take RISKS they didn't understand.
For example, they signed up with services like http://griddy.com/ [griddy.com]
See: https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/ne... [cbsnews.com]
When a deep freeze shut down half the power generation capacity in Texas this week, the wholesale price of electricity exploded 10,000 per cent, with the financial consequences now being felt all the way from individual households to huge European energy companies.
Astronomical bills face customers who opted for floating-rate contracts tied to wholesale prices in the stateâ(TM)s freewheeling electric market.
Link: https://www.ft.com/content/0e7... [ft.com]
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As your quote indicates: WHOLESALE spot-market prices went up over 10,000%. That affected almost everybody in the state.
Some people had pass-thru plans, and saw immediate increases. For others, the effect was simply delayed - Texans will be paying about 15% more for the next *decade* to cover a few days in February.
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There wasn't enough peaking power called for. Power plants can't start when frozen, can keep running in those temps if they're on.
Wind/Solar price give aways have made gas plants have a problem operating at a profit if they have to idle too much. Wind/Solar aren't reliable and for now, don't have to pay the cost of making up the reliable power shortfall.
If more peaking power is k
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Not to mention utility customers as far north as Minnesota are being forced to pay for the irresponsibility of Texas based natural gas companies (Centerpoint Energy) through increased utility bills (and we are being charged interest on it at nearly 9% to boot!).
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Everything's stupider in Texas. Can't larn 'em nuttin.
But I think you should have included mention of Enron.
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Texas hasn't learned a goddamn thing.
California: Here Texas, hold my beer.
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They can plan and build with this new data.
Yes, but they haven't.
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You're assuming the cold weather blackouts in Texas resulted from effects that were unforeseeable to engineers. Having learned through experience, they can make changes to the grid to prevent it from happening. But the *grid* was not the cause of the outages; simultaneous failures at a number of individual power stations were the cause.
Operating a grid is a complicated exercise in balancing supply and demand. If a substantial fraction of your supply fails simultaneously, there's no grid magic you can per
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The State of Texas objects to your use of the word "socialized" in this - or any other - Texas-related context.
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"The engineers" have been telling the state's governors exactly what they needed to do to fix their grid for literally over ten years. The GOPers refused then - and they continue to refuse to do anything to prevent a repeat now - because they don't care about the people of Texas, all they care about is the bribes from ERCOT.
And Texas refuses to be connected to the national grid - which would have enabled them to draw power and prevented the tragedy this Februa
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Power, especially nuclear are half century investments ... a flybynight parasitic consumer can only cause malinvestment.
Of course in a truly transparant/free market, there would be massive discrimination against bitcoin by power companies and their investors to pay for the risk of long term unreliable consumption. But because of the obfuscation and regulation of wholesale markets malinvestment is ensured.
Not like California (Score:3, Funny)
Cali's power grid is rock-solid.
They're professionals. In California they tell you exactly when the power will be out for days on end. They've been at it so long, they've got it down to a science.
In Texas, they're inexperienced. They have no clue when the power goes out. It's like they think it'll almost never happen.
Re:Not like California (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Not like California (Score:1)
No, dude. Of course they have regs. You can't have an interconnected power market without having regs.
Where their regs fall down is that they favor the spot market rather than a futures market. The former enables wind farm, solar, and battery bank operators to turn a quick profit by providing power some of the time. The latter would favor (winterized) baseload providers and winterization of things like gas pipelines, wind turbines, and nuclear power cooling intakes. But it would cost more both in the spot m
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The plant upgrades can only be recommended. There is no authority to mandate changes. So if it's cheaper to cause blackouts instead of doing upgrades then you have your answer.
Re: Not like California (Score:2)
You can "mandate" it with contract law. If you promise me power on Feb 27 of next year and don't deliver, you're guilty of criminal fraud and do time.
The usual way to weasel out of these commitments is with an 'act of god' clause, and the way around that workaround is with a 'due diligence' clause.
They didn't do that in Texas because they cheaped out and they got their result.
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You can "mandate" it with contract law. If you promise me power on Feb 27 of next year and don't deliver, you're guilty of criminal fraud and do time.
That is not a "mandate" that winterization is to be done. The contract is to provide power. There are provisions in any contract if this is not done. A common exclusion in most contracts is force majeure [wikipedia.org] (act of God). A winter storm would be classified as an act of God. Thus the utility company is off the hook. It is not criminal fraud when a civil contract is not fulfilled. Please consult an attorney before you post such nonsense.
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No, dude. Of course they have regs. You can't have an interconnected power market without having regs.
The Texas power grid is not connected to the rest of the country. You know this right?
Where their regs fall down is that they favor the spot market rather than a futures market. The former enables wind farm, solar, and battery bank operators to turn a quick profit by providing power some of the time. The latter would favor (winterized) baseload providers and winterization of things like gas pipelines, wind turbines, and nuclear power cooling intakes. But it would cost more both in the spot market and long-term, so they didn't incentivize it.
In February 2011, Texas experienced a major winter storm which almost crippled the state. In an analysis [ferc.gov], recommendations were made to winterize all energy operations. Recommendations are not regulations thus they were not done.
In February 2021, Texas was crippled by a major winter storm. Again, winterizing operations was recommended. [ferc.gov] Unless there is a regulation to do so, none of the energy companies is required to do so.
Re: Not like California (Score:1)
They're not connected to the rest of the country but they're connected to themselves.
If you think you can have a pure libertarian paradise like that, try hooking two car batteries together one way, then the other way, and see what happens. I recommend wearing goggles.
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They're not connected to the rest of the country but they're connected to themselves.
Since they are not connected to the rest of the country, you do understand that they are not required to follow federal regulations right? In fact the main purpose that was touted to disconnect was so that Texas would not have to follow federal regulations. You know this right?
If you think you can have a pure libertarian paradise like that, try hooking two car batteries together one way, then the other way, and see what happens. I recommend wearing goggles.
No I am pointing out that winterizing energy operations has been recommended before. Without regulations to implement, that was done. And most likely will never be done. I am also pointing out that most of the energy plans Texas has m
Re: Not like California (Score:1)
You understand that Texas sets regs in the absence of federal authority to do so, right? They chose regs that disfavor investment in winterizing infrastructure.
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You understand that Texas sets regs in the absence of federal authority to do so, right? They chose regs that disfavor investment in winterizing infrastructure.
That's not what I said, was it? I said specifically Texas left the national power grid to AVOID following any federal regulations. Also you do know Texas in general is not a heavy regulation state right? Why must you post such misinformation?
They chose regs that disfavor investment in winterizing infrastructure.
Citation needed. My reading is that Texas never implemented any such regulations to winterize despite recommendations.
Re: Not like California (Score:1)
Loose regulations != no regulations.
Regulations that do not favor winterizing != no regulations.
Please tell me exactly where I posted "misinformation."
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They chose regs that disfavor investment in winterizing infrastructure.
Please cite the regulations that Texas passed that does this. I am betting no regulations exist. Therefore is what you are posting misinformation?
Re: Not like California (Score:2)
Avoiding federal regulations is not synonymous with declining to adopt one's own regulations.
Oh look: http://www.puc.texas.gov/agenc... [texas.gov]
Is that a set of rules for electricity production and distribution in Texas?
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Oh look: http://www.puc.texas.gov/agenc [texas.gov]... [texas.gov]
Please. Citing the whole rule book when I asked for the specific regulation is dishonest at best. You might as well have linked the Texas Constitution.
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said there were no regulations, which you tacitly identified with the absence of federal regulations.
Please cite the regulations. You still have not done so.
I said that the regs that are in place disfavor winterizing etc.
Please cite the specific regulation. You can't can you? That is why you posted all of them in a dishonest move.
Nevermind that you're picking a fight over a point of agreement for some reason, can you point to any place where I said that Texas didn't opt to avoid federal regulations?
You are still trying to muddle the fact that Texas avoiding federal regulations did not happen by saying "But they are following Texas regulations." At best that is dishonesty. At best that is misinformation.
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My whole point has always been that Texas rules do not make for an environment where winterization investments occur. Then you jump down my throat and claim there are no rules and I'm a liar for trying to make a specific point and a fool for not having a link to a sound bite to prove me right?
Please cite those rules.
You just want to pick an argument.
You said: " They chose regs that disfavor investment in winterizing infrastructure." Please cite those regs.
They were doing fine (Score:3)
Re: They were doing fine (Score:1)
I'll play the "true communism has never been tried" card.
Deregulation without implementation of strong contract law isn't really deregulation. It's just shirking responsibility.
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Strong contract law does nothing when you cause so much damage and loss of life that your corporation is bankrupted by the subsequent lawsuits.
But your C-suite got some pretty nice bonuses due to the business neglecting its basic duties, and they'll just move on to another company.
and when the USA bank regs come to bitcoin? (Score:5, Interesting)
and when the USA bank regs come to bitcoin?
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and when the USA bank regs come to bitcoin?
When the bitcoin owners get rich enough (either by the current owners making a lot of money, or big money getting into bitcoin) and want to put up barriers so others cannot easily get in.
This is how regulation begins in every industry in America, including banking. The big players, upon reaching a certain level, finds it cheaper to buy laws to close the door to entry than to compete against newcomers.
independence then drive all toll roads not pay (Score:2)
independence then drive all toll roads not pay if you are out of state as they will have no power to enforce then.
Remember Enron, Texas .. nothing is free (Score:1)
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"deceased"
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Diseased.
That's what I thought... (Score:2)
So, vermin. (Score:1)
Yea, any word on whether China has a concentration camp for them yet, or is it still just ethnic minorities, gays, etc?
The boom comes as the electrical system is... (Score:2)
...already under strain from an expanding population and robust economy.
Hi Texas, it's me. Just tell Joe Rogan to go back to California. Trust me.
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I was thinking we should just give Texas back to Mexico.
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I was thinking we should just give Texas back to Mexico.
I'm fairly certain that the citizens of Texas would not agree to that.
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I was thinking we should just give Texas back to Mexico.
I'm fairly certain that the citizens of Texas would not agree to that.
It's possible the citizens of Mexico wouldn't either ... :-)
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Texas would survive as it's own nation at that point. It has it's own ports, electric grid, food supply. Sure, it would still import and export food with the US because well, that's how trade works.
California is another state that would do just fine on it's own. Both states have big enough economies and enough diversity in those economies as well as large amounts of land and natural resources.
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It would be a harsh transition though. Especially Texas - it gets substantially more money from the federal government then it pays in federal taxes. Things would get a lot worse before there was any prospect of them getting better.
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I agree, though that's probably true for any single state, California included.
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I looked it up. There are only eight states that, in 2021, paid more in federal taxes than they accepted in federal funding.
New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado, Utah.
Texas politicians (Score:3)
Are only concerned with staying in power and lining their own pockets, not necessarily in that order. The welfare of the populace couldn't concern them less. Their unstable and unregulated power grid undoubtably has more melodrama in store for the unlucky residents. If I lived in Texas I'd buy a whopping big generator.
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Same with a few of those Silicon Valley companies moving to Texas. They aren't moving for the benefit of the employees. They're moving to Texas because of less worker protections so they can extract more profits. Employees won't see any of that.
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Good thing they can take their awesome skills to some other company that could use them. In fact, now would probably be one of the best possibly times to look for a new job if your company is deciding to leave one state you like for another you don't.
What's the problem exactly? You think California owns those businesses? They are just butthurt they will lose whatever taxes and jobs those companies provided, but surely those companies leaving will leave own spaces for new enterprises to spring up, right?
I wo
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Talk to me about the marvelous power grid in Puerto Rico (it is part of the United States, remember) or about the California power grid that enjoys rolling blackouts to avoid setting mountain ranges on fire... Then I'll tell you about the reliability of the Texas power grid aside from once-a-century freeze.
Generators in Texas are almost unheard of in residential settings (because the power grid is that reliable), when I lived in then North East home generators were becoming a thing, especially after the ext
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Incidentally, I live in the Northwest. PLEASE don't join Texas to the Western US power grid. I like my power systems robust and reliable. I don't need cheap, rickety and comparable to Puerto Rico (which, incidentally, we should fix).
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It's almost like you just choose to put your head in the sand and pretend like Texas grid goes down yearly when it doesn't. Yet in California, this does in fact happen. It's part of the reason I wanted solar panels and more battery backups in my home. If the state is to incompetent to keep the lights on, I'll have to take care of it myself.
Now if only some smart people could discovery a break through in cheap battery tech so home size batteries didn't cost 75% of what the panels cost.
Dysfunctional politicians in a dysfunctional state (Score:1)
Last I looked, those fuck-ups were vote into office and represent a fucked-up population that is deeply stuck in some fantasy of their own superiority. Well, maybe they can still have a use as a negative example for the rest.
Re: Texas politicians (Score:2)
And then they turn around, with big puppy dog eyes, and wax God and Jesus.
It is known that the most hypocritical people are the ones who sing their hymns the loudest in church.
Did no one notice COP26 ? (Score:5, Insightful)
What a phenomenal waste of energy is bitcoin. Frittering away energy link this will do nothing to stop climate change.
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Bitcoin is not the problem.
The lack of carbon pricing to internalise the cost of the negative externalities of energy production are the problem.
Solve the problem of carbon pricing, and bitcoin becomes an efficient use of scarce resources.
Alternate headline: (Score:3, Insightful)
Texas seeing the end of big oil seeks new ways in which it can massively fuck up the environment.
Most Vulnerable? (Score:3, Interesting)
Texas, already home to the most vulnerable power grid in the U.S.
When did Puerto Rico [institutef...search.org] cease being part of the United States?
Puerto Rico’s decades-old power grid is held together by patchwork repairs that has left it vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. It is plagued by aging equipment with generators averaging 45 years old, lack of maintenance and past mismanagement and political corruption of an inefficient system.
The California power grid enjoys rolling blackouts [marketplace.org] to avoid setting major wildfires in less populous parts of the state and has gotten approval from regulators to "seize" electricity destined for other states that travels over it's power grid:
California is the biggest importer of power in the U.S. and it lets other states borrow its grid to transport power. Under pressure, Mainzer approached the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and asked if California could hold onto power destined for another state, in a pinch. A few weeks ago, FERC said yes.
The "Vulnerability" of the Texas Power Grid is limited to freezing when temperatures in Texas drop to near-arctic temperatures, something that could be reasonably discussed in non-scientific circles as a once-on-a-century event.
Re:Most Vulnerable? (Score:5, Informative)
The "Vulnerability" of the Texas Power Grid is limited to freezing when temperatures in Texas drop to near-arctic temperatures, something that could be reasonably discussed in non-scientific circles as a once-on-a-century event.
Except it's happened three times in 32 years. https://www.usatoday.com/story... [usatoday.com]
So let's change that to once a decade event.
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How old is your signature? Fox has been controlled by a leftist for years. As usual people that don't research properly are a day late and a dollar short.
- In June 2015, Rupert Murdoch announced he would be leaving his position as CEO of 21st Century Fox and his left leaning son James would take over the position.
- In March 2019, 21st Century Fox was sold to ultra left-leaning Walt Disney Company, ending James Murdoch's tenure as CEO.
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First, Disney is not 'ultra left-leaning.' Disney leans in whichever direction the scent of money blows from.
More important though, Disney doesn't own Fox news. They purchased Fox's entertainment assets, but not the new division. Disney doesn't want that.
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How fucking dumb are you?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
as a result of the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company; the assets that were not acquired by Disney were spun off from 21st Century Fox as the new Fox Corp
Fox News is not owned by Disney.
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The California power grid enjoys rolling blackouts to avoid setting major wildfires in less populous parts of the state
Yes, CA made the mistake of believing Republicans who said deregulating and privatizing the power grid would be fantastic. So under Gov Pete Wilson's direction, they did so.
And so PG&E, newly freed from those terrible, evil, no-good regulations decided they didn't want to pay for basic maintenance like brush clearing. Or basic maintenance to prevent sparks. I mean, you do that and the C-suite can't take that money as bonuses!
Then PG&E's negligence burned down a few towns, and killed a medium-size
Congress forgot Puerto Rico (Score:2)
Finally California's problems are entirely due to a lack of infrastructure spending which were about to start doing again. To be fair they're right wing has block
Texans know what they signed up for. (Score:2)
The outcomes may be entertaining...
Makes more sense than you think (Score:2)
Its the people, with their fundamentally slower reaction times, that will get caught flat-footed.
So, one could argue that texas is a great place for bitcoin miners. Suitable for Humans habitation? Mmmmaybe not so much.
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Most residents have contracts with their power companies to buy power at predetermined monthly rates. When the grid wholesale rate spiked, it was those power companies that took the brunt of the hit. Of course, they'll probably increase rates to repay that shortfall.
Bitcoin demand will increase rates too. Miners who can get the cheapest electricity will have the best ROI, which means more money to keep expanding their operations. They will soak up the cheapest electricity wherever that exists until the pric
To me the power end seems like (Score:2)
Ah, Bitcoin, the currency of criminals. (Score:1, Troll)
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*ducks*
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And yet, according to this link : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Both California and Texas have the same gun murder rate per capita, which is 3.3 per 100k.
It doesn't really say if all these deaths are homicide or if they also include suicide, which is also classified as gun violence.
Some of the stats are pretty interesting. Delaware has 5.2% ownership, lowest in the country, yet sits at 5.5 per capita gun murder rate. Hawaii is really interesting. It sits at 46% gun ownership yet has the lowest gun murder
Republicans flip-flopping again (Score:5, Insightful)
crypto miners are ultimately good for the grid, since they say the miners can soak up excess clean power
Wasn't it gimpy Abbott, and a multitude of other Republicans, who lied about the reason [statesman.com] for the power outages which killed Texans, claiming it was because the clean energy folks which caused it? Why yes, yes they did [newsweek.com].
In fact, they were so gung ho to blame green energy, they are forcing taxpayers to cough up $3.4 billion [slashdot.org] to cover the debt natural gas companies incurred when the grid all but collapsed because these same companies couldn't be bothered to spend a few dollars to weatherize their systems.
Yet now we're to believe there will be enough power for Texans despite the excess load being put into the already fragile system by cryptominers. That somehow there's an "excess" of electricity which can be sucked up by these folks who will also graciously throttle back their waste of electricity if asked to do so? If you're on life support in Texas, or need a continual source of electricity to keep you alive, you would be advised to move because at the first hint of the next power outage, you're going down.
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They want the miners to soak up all the clean power, so it can't pollute their dirty powergrid. Seems perfectly logical to me.
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That somehow there's an "excess" of electricity which can be sucked up by these folks who will also graciously throttle back their waste of electricity if asked to do so?
Mining profits are very sensitive to electricity price. When the price of electricity goes up (for example, if some power plants fail and there is not enough power), miners will shut down until the price is low enough.
Good there's an isolated Texas grid (Score:2)
With this sort of gigantic, intense stupidity in Texas it is probably better that the Texas grid is (almost completely) isolated from the rest of the North American grid. Then the problems this will cause there won't spread to other electricity areas.
Clearly, you should also isolate Texas from gas transmission and markets, so that electrical consumption idiocy can't make prices go crazy and cause people on the other side of the country to have to pay for it ( https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com] ).
Bitcoin is so yesterday (Score:1)
Farm Chia and do not burn excessive electricity.
slow clap (Score:2)
That's all I have to say about that.
Texas is fine (Score:2)
..it's the people who are not.
It's happened (Score:2)
Proponents like Senator Ted Cruz and Governor Greg Abbott, both Republicans, say crypto miners are ultimately good for the grid, since they say the miners can soak up excess clean power and, when needed, can voluntarily throttle back in seconds to help avert blackouts.
Reality and satire have finally merged.
Texas kicks ass. (Score:1)
They've got their own electrical grid. They've got abundant sunshine for ramping up solar. Texas' chips (AMD) are way better than California's (Intel). They have ocean access for water cooling (VERY important if you want to pull off building more nuclear energy), international trade, off shore drilling, etc. Texas has their own bullion repository. Not to mention, they also have some of the most delicious steaks in the country, plus their women are pretty scrumptious too.
If anybody can pull this off successf
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The wind farms are growing like weeds in Texas.
Not enough nimbies from California have invaded the state yet to stop these farms from being built.
Now that's a good point. (Score:1)
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I think that most of that wind is coming from the Governor... Lets see how this fabled grid stands up to the winter especially when almost no winterisation was done after the events of earlier this year.
Since that was a fluke as storms go - you'd probably be surprised at how much of a non issue it'll wind up being. After all warm latitudes are generally called WARM for a reason.
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A winter day in West Texas is a lot like a balmy summer day in Denmark looking out onto the North Sea.
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California and New York would like a word. Michigan is on hold.
Texas? SOLAR?!? (Score:3)
Solar in Texas (Score:2)
On ERCOT's Grid Information Generation [ercot.com] page you can find the latest Fuel Mix Report [ercot.com], which covers January thru October 2021. On the summary tab you'll see that for the current year our power comes from
2021 wind 23% and solar 4%
On their Grid Information Planning [ercot.com] page you'll find 2020 Long-Term System Assessment for the ERCOT Region [ercot.com]. On page 49 you'll find a chart showing planned expansion that will increase that to:
2025 wind 33% and solar 12%
2030 wind 39% and solar 13%
2035 wind 41% and solar 13%
so we're
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If anything, it's an embodiment of entropy.