![]() ![]() China banned the practice in 2021, and almost immediately, the US took its spot as the biggest hub in the world for crypto mining. In very little time, Texas has become a major player in the global Bitcoin mining industry. “We barely have the power plants to cover today,” he tells The Verge. that would put too much stress on the system too fast,” says Rhodes. “There’s no way we could do 27 gigawatts of crypto. That’s an “astronomically impossible” load to add to the grid in that short timeframe, according to Joshua Rhodes, a research associate at the University of Texas at Austin. “There are over 27 gigawatts of crypto load that is working on interconnecting over the next four years,” the unnamed ERCOT spokesperson said. That leaves limited breathing room for most of the state during periods of high demand.Īll of that brings us back to the crypto boom in Texas. The power grid in Texas can currently supply a maximum of about 92 gigawatts of electricity - and that’s only if every source of power generation is working perfectly, which usually isn’t the case. More than 78 gigawatts of electricity were needed to meet peak demand, according to ERCOT. On July 12th, during the heatwave, the state hit a record. The first thing to know is that a single megawatt (MW) can power about 200 homes during times of high demand in Texas. Let’s break down why 27 gigawatts is such a big deal. Texas’ energy system is already bracing for the Bitcoin mining industry to keep growing at breakneck speed The spokesperson, replying from ERCOT’s media relations email, refused to provide their name. ERCOT is the main grid operator in the state, in charge of managing its power supply. Crypto mining is set to increase demand on the grid by a whopping 27 gigawatts by 2026, a spokesperson for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) told The Verge in an email. The amount of electrical load crypto miners are expected to add to the Texas grid over just the next four years represents nearly a third of the grid’s current maximum capacity. Texas’ energy system is already bracing for the Bitcoin mining industry to keep growing at breakneck speed. The problem is the Bitcoin network’s enormous demand for electricity, which is spiking faster than the grid can reasonably keep up with. Higher electricity bills and even more carbon dioxide emissions could be on the way for Texans, despite crypto mining industry claims that it can spur the growth of affordable renewable energy. Even though energy-hungry Bitcoin mining companies have volunteered to power down in Texas this week to alleviate the stress placed on the grid by a searing heatwave, the industry could still trigger more problems down the line if it continues its explosive expansion in the state.
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