Bitcoin Miners In Texas Take A Weekend Break As Six Power Plants Go Under

Bitcoin miners in Texas shut down some facilities and planned to keep them off when power was in high demand during the weekend to oblige a notice from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, a trade association representing the Bitcoin mining industry in the city said Saturday.

The ERCT asked consumers on Friday to conserve electricity through the end of the weekend after six power plants went down unexpectedly and with hot weather set to lead to a demand spike.

Texans were asked to set their thermostats to 78 degrees or above and to avoid using large appliances at home between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m during the weekend.

"In addition to bringing jobs and tax revenue to rural areas of Texas, many of which are in need of economic revitalization, 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.