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Such deals are usually structured the other way around, and have existed long before bitcoin. The energy consumer gets a cheaper electricity prices year round,
by phire 3y ago
Such deals are usually structured the other way around, and have existed long before bitcoin.
The energy consumer gets a cheaper electricity prices year round, on the condition that they are contractually obligated to cut power in emergencies when the energy provider demands it (though, there still can be penalty payments if the demands exceed the maximum in the contract). This allows the provider to always know how much capacity it can shed ahead of time, in exchange for slightly lower revenue.
With this alternative arrangement, Texas is forced to dynamically outbid bitcoin profits and other uses of energy in the middle of an emergency.
I actually have a similar deal on a consumer level for my home. In exchange for lower power prices, the power company is allowed to turn my hot water tank off remotely. Usually doesn't matter unless multiple people have very long showers on very cold days.
- toenail 3y ago> This allows the provider to always know how much capacity it can shed ahead of time, in exchange for slightly lower revenue. This is exactly what happened here, the difference is just how the payment is structured? Obviously an industrial operation can get a different contract than a home owner, and can provide different benefits for the providers.
- phire 3y agoSuperficially, it's the same. But the semantics change because it's an auction based system. ERCOT have no idea how much load shedding capacity they have ahead of time. They have to start bidding on the wholesale market and see which bids are accepted. Which makes it harder to do long-term planning and potentially slower to respond in an emergency. It also result in headlines like this :)
- toenail 3y agoSuperficially it's also far superior, because the amount of energy consumption that can be switched off is far bigger than that of a single home. Yes, bad journalists will always write bad headlines that are inaccurate or wrong to generate clicks.