The Texas power grid still struggles with fluctuating energy prices and irregular service. However, Bitcoin miners believe they can fix that.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz agrees. “A lot of the discussion around bitcoin views bitcoin as a consumer of energy,” said Cruz at an event in October. “The perspective I’m suggesting is very much the reverse, which is as a way to strengthen our energy infrastructure.”
ERCOT — short for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which is the organization tasked with operating it —is volatile.
The power grid powers 90% of the state. However, ERCOT requires a flawless balance between supply and demand. If the power grid has more power than necessary and not enough buyers then that would be as bad as if everyone in Texas fired up their AC units on the same day in Summer.
Keeping a perfect balance has proven to be a serious challenge this year.
Meanwhile, the price of power per hour is becoming negative over time. Several blackouts occur now and then, and the peak power consumption isn’t a surprise anymore.
Cryptocurrency miners have the solution
However, cryptocurrency enthusiasts believe that they can fix this problem. Bitcoin and other crypto miners argued that they’ll get the additional power that the grid generates and it, therefore, won’t be put to waste. They added that whatever the time of the day, if additional electricity is available, then they’ll use it — making them the perfect flexible buyers for ERCOT.
