How crypto mining could help Texan power grid

Texas is a crypto-friendly place with deregulated power grid and abundant energy sources, including 28% of windpower and abundant natural gas, coming also as a byproduct of oil extraction.

It is no surprise that Texans have jumped on the opportunity provided by the Chinese mining ban and deployed many efforts to attract crypto mining business. They succeeded, and the US has become a new #Bitcoin mining leader. What does it mean for Texas now? Other than the obvious tax and jobs benefits, mining can breathe new life into abandoned industrial facilities, like the one in Rockdale, and even potentially help fortify its energy grid that famously failed last winter.

Last February Texas suffered a massive electricity failure, leaving over 4.5 million homes and businesses without power for several days. Winter storms exposed a poor planning of its poorly weatherized power grid, together with the inability of the natural gas infrastructure to deliver gas to power plants. Texan Senator Ted Cruz believes that crypto mining could help prevent such situations.

Crypto mining could create enough demand that investors would be enticed to build new energy projects, which will be able (for the first time) to sell their full generation capacity.

Also, crypto mining being very sensible to electricity prices, miners can turn on and off instantaneously, which means that in the times of power crisis, when prices go up (remember: the grid is deregulated), miners turn off the machines and the unused energy is put on the grid. As the energy becomes more abundant thanks to the mining demand, emergency situations could be handled much easier.

With the winter coming, we will see if the new miners who have recently installed in Texas could already make these forecasts true.