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So, what I gathered from this is that they will be using off-site power to run these "mining machines" while sucking up all the power they may get from solar th

by oblib 5y ago

So, what I gathered from this is that they will be using off-site power to run these "mining machines" while sucking up all the power they may get from solar they install and own at a time when those living there are experiencing blackouts in harsh weather conditions. Gotta love Texas!

acchow 5y ago
This is not unique to Texas. Any private mining farm with its own electricity generation would operate like this.
- oblib 5y ago
  Widespread brownouts are rare where I live. Seems not so much in Texas anymore.
RedBeetDeadpool 5y ago
If the price of electricity rises, then don't mine bitcoin, sell it back to the grid.
- TigeriusKirk 5y ago
  The article says that's the plan. We'll see if it works out that way. ------------------------------------------------------------------- “When you can consume 20% of your electricity on site and sell roughly 80% back into the grid, and can shut down our miners in a minute if we need during peak hours, that offers a massive benefit with regards to smoothing our supply and demand across the energy grid,” Ward said, describing the benefits of building on-site solar panels. “We can still make money [when bitcoin miners are turned off] by selling our leftover solar energy back into the wholesale system. This won’t hurt our profitability, yet the relief it could provide to the end consumer could be massive,” he said.
  - oblib 5y ago
    "When you can consume 20% of your electricity on site and sell roughly 80% back into the grid" That would make sense if the mining made you more money than the grid and you had excess power, but what would be the point of selling your juice to the grid if that is the case? Seems to me like powering as many miners as you can with your supply of installed power would have to be the goal at all times and the grid would be your backup plan to keep them running if your onsite supply was lacking.
    - LegitShady 5y ago
      the return on electricity probably doesn't feature the potential explosive growth the same way bitc mining does. This is gambling on bitc but hedging using electricity sales.
      - oblib 5y ago
        Ok, that could be a win for consumers if bitcoin takes a dive. But for sure consumers should have to subsidize bitcoin operations like this who could also put a strain on the grid at times. There needs to be regulation on those kinds of uses. The grid has to allocated to people and production of real goods and services first. Using it to mine bitcoin needs to be taxed when any of that power comes from public funded accesses to it.

by oblib 5y ago

acchow 5y ago

This is not unique to Texas. Any private mining farm with its own electricity generation would operate like this.

oblib 5y ago
Widespread brownouts are rare where I live. Seems not so much in Texas anymore.

RedBeetDeadpool 5y ago

If the price of electricity rises, then don't mine bitcoin, sell it back to the grid.

TigeriusKirk 5y ago
The article says that's the plan. We'll see if it works out that way. ------------------------------------------------------------------- “When you can consume 20% of your electricity on site and sell roughly 80% back into the grid, and can shut down our miners in a minute if we need during peak hours, that offers a massive benefit with regards to smoothing our supply and demand across the energy grid,” Ward said, describing the benefits of building on-site solar panels. “We can still make money [when bitcoin miners are turned off] by selling our leftover solar energy back into the wholesale system. This won’t hurt our profitability, yet the relief it could provide to the end consumer could be massive,” he said.
- oblib 5y ago
  "When you can consume 20% of your electricity on site and sell roughly 80% back into the grid" That would make sense if the mining made you more money than the grid and you had excess power, but what would be the point of selling your juice to the grid if that is the case? Seems to me like powering as many miners as you can with your supply of installed power would have to be the goal at all times and the grid would be your backup plan to keep them running if your onsite supply was lacking.
  - LegitShady 5y ago
    the return on electricity probably doesn't feature the potential explosive growth the same way bitc mining does. This is gambling on bitc but hedging using electricity sales.
    - oblib 5y ago
      Ok, that could be a win for consumers if bitcoin takes a dive. But for sure consumers should have to subsidize bitcoin operations like this who could also put a strain on the grid at times. There needs to be regulation on those kinds of uses. The grid has to allocated to people and production of real goods and services first. Using it to mine bitcoin needs to be taxed when any of that power comes from public funded accesses to it.