Texas Bitcoin Miners Forced To Shut Down Due to Heatwave

Bitcoin miners are working with Texas officials to help relieve the state’s energy grid in advance of a heatwave; over 1,000 megawatts of power earmarked for Bitcoin mining is being shifted to retail and commercial consumption.

According to Bloomberg, large-scale Bitcoin mining firms have shut down their machines in preparation for a heatwave in Central Texas. Such occurrences routinely raise electricity prices and, at times, severely strain the state’s power grid, as demand for air conditioning climbs in tandem with the temperature.

According to Texas Blockchain Association President Lee Bratcher, “almost 1,000 megawatts worth of Bitcoin mining load” have been turned down to comply with calls from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to conserve electricity for the grid.

According to Bratcher, the load represented nearly all industrial-scale Bitcoin mining in Texas; he also claimed that the move would allow “over 1% of [the] entire grid capacity” to be diverted for retail and commercial use.

On Sunday, ERCOT requested that Texans and large electric users reduce their electricity consumption from 19:00 to 01:00 UTC on Monday. It predicted overall power demand would exceed 79,000 megawatts, breaking the previous high of 78,206 megawatts set last Friday. Temperatures in Austin had hit 107 degrees Fahrenheit at the time of writing.

Following China’s prohibition on crypto mining in 2021, the United States became the world’s leading mining hub. Texas, in particular, is becoming increasingly appealing to major mining operations due to its low energy prices and pro-crypto regulatory position. Last November, Argo Blockchain announced plans to invest up to $2 billion in the construction of a mining plant in Texas.

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