Bitcoin miners paused operations in Texas amid heatwave-driven peak electricity demand, Bloomberg reports.
On July 10, ERCOT, the state’s grid operator, urged residents and businesses to conserve electricity. According to the provider’s forecast, daytime demand could exceed generation capacity.
More than 1,000 MW of Bitcoin mining load responded to ERCOT’s request for conservation, shutting down their equipment. This represents almost all mining industrial capacity in the state and allows restoring more than 1% of the grid’s total capacity, said Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Association.
Core Scientific confirmed that all Texas-based ASIC miners have been shut down. The company clarified that this amounts to less than 15% of its total mining capacity.
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
In challenging situations, including the current heat in Texas, we scale down capacity and will continue to do so as needed, said the company’s CEO Mike Levitt.
According to him, Core Scientific operates in six states.
A Riot Blockchain spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company’s Whinstone data centre in Rockdale reduced energy consumption at ERCOT’s request.
Argo Blockchain CEO Peter Wall also confirmed to the publication that the firm paused operations in the state. The Helios facility is located in Dickens County.
Marathon Digital Holdings noted that Bitcoin miners help the state modulate electricity demand and stabilise the grid, as they can switch off and restart capacity within minutes, unlike other enterprises.
#Bitcoin miners are a non-rival consumer of power — we can modulate demand as needed and help stabilize the grid. 🤝
— Marathon Digital Holdings (@MarathonDH) July 11, 2022
As of June 11, Bitcoin’s hashrate had declined to 199 EH/s after peaking at 231 EH/s a month earlier (a seven-day smoothed moving average from Glassnode).
In June, the total revenue of Bitcoin miners fell 26% to $668 million. The figure has been falling rapidly since March.
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