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Prof. Kevin J. Kircher@kevinjkircher.com |
I learned at an engineering conference recently that one crypto mine in TX, 100s of MW, makes more money off ERCOT demand response markets than it does off crypto repeat: TX ratepayers pay them more to sometimes stop mining than they make by actual mining just bananas misuse of power markets 🔌💡
46 replies 744 reposts 1415 likes
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@playon.bsky.social
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AI data centers will use even more electricity than bitcoin.
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Silly B Man
@lawnerd.bsky.social
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Drone strikes now!
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Convolver
@convolver.bsky.social
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Functionally, it’s a more expensive, less direct, environmentally-problematic way to add spinning capacity to a system that was designed around the idea that market incentives would obviate the need for spinning capacity. In other words, they’re arbitraging the inefficiencies of power deregulation.
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Dan B.
@freezed00.bsky.social
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There's a lot of bananas stuff going on all over the place.
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Chris Adams
@mrchrisadams.bsky.social
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This might interest you.
In this talk Vattenfall in the Nordics outline how some datacentres can be compensated something like *half their own energy costs in a given year* if they can provide between 5 and 20 minutes of relief to the grid 10-20 times a year
fast.wistia.net/embed/channe...
1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
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ClockworkCanary
@clockworkcanary.bsky.social
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The Enron model, except, somehow legal?
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Chat Clussman
@clussman.bsky.social
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I seem to recall consumers getting shafted by variable pricing during demand spikes. Force non-essential, heavy power draw businesses like crypto (or just crypto specifically) onto variable rate plans. Let them pay. Not the other way around.
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LastDeadMouse⏹️
@guttersharp.bsky.social
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Texas gonna Texas
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Neil Mackenzie
@nmackenzie.bsky.social
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In its latest 10Q (September quarter) Riot Platforms shows $51.9M in revenue and $48.6M in “power curtailment credits.
s3.amazonaws.com/sec.irpass.c...
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zenosAnalytic
@zenosanalytic.bsky.social
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The Republican Party never met corruption it didn't like. As far as they're concerned giving rich people public monies it what government is for.
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@gooneybird.bsky.social
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This is why rich people & grifters love abbott
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The Gin-ger
@kirklandginlover.bsky.social
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My preferred solution would be that loads above a certain MW level would be required to participate in the Day Ahead Market or contract through someone who does it for them. None of this nonsense with DR on large loads.
0 replies 0 reposts 6 likes
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The Gin-ger
@kirklandginlover.bsky.social
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I like this classic from Bill Hogan on DR
lmpmarketdesign.com/papers/Hogan...
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Jason Sullivan
@jason0x21.bsky.social
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BRB buying several thousand electric oven heating elements and moving to Texas.
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Jerf Blerkman
@jeffblackman.bsky.social
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burning down your house for insurance money is literally more ethical than investing in crypto
0 replies 1 reposts 4 likes
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Bruce Fulton
@dbfulton.bsky.social
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Look what’s going on at a Texas public university:
www.mccombs.utexas.edu/centers-and-...
0 replies 2 reposts 4 likes
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Kobolds! How do they Yip?
@koblbird.bsky.social
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Banana republic with a banana power grid
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Dave "I Dissent" Conrad
@dconrad.bsky.social
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"Nice grid you've got, there. Be a shame if someone ran it into the ground on a high demand day. Tell you what, pay us and we'll ‘protect’ you from that." How is this not extortion?
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Comfortably Numb
@numb.comfortab.ly
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Huh so this what Cruz and Abbott meant when they said crypto would strengthen TX powergrid. That it would occasionally loosen the chokehold.
0 replies 2 reposts 10 likes
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Alten Försterei in SF 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️
@nickel76.bsky.social
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Ummm. This is pretty standard for incompetent GOP regulation/regulatory capture. If you hate all the little indignities heaped upon you by utilities and corporations, the time wasting, poor service with no recourse, junk fees, etc., the blame is 100% Republicans and their crony capitalism…
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Clambot
@clambot.bsky.social
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holy shit
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Greylace
@greylace.bsky.social
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The markets are this easy to abuse because they were _made_ that way. The market regulations could have been written to allow ERCOT to do rolling blackouts of large industrial users, but instead they made an abusable market for ERCOT to buy the right to sell less power. Texas made these rules.
0 replies 3 reposts 7 likes
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ballerinaX
@ballerinax.bsky.social
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Imagine the roof op solar & storage batteries that could subsidize for low income families. Especially the disabled & elderly that require electric health appliances
0 replies 0 reposts 8 likes
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Chillbo Hangins
@woskethoughts.bsky.social
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I need to read up on ercot demand response markets. This seems a remarkable legal loophole
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Ciele
@ciele.bsky.social
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Cc @chron-com.bsky.social @dallasnews.bsky.social #txlege @newyorktimes.bsky.social @washingtonpost.com @whitehouse.bsky.social
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Benjamin Johns
@baj.bsky.social
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Paying Farmers to Not Grow Crops: The Next Generation.
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Keith
@mosheroperandi.bsky.social
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Do you know if this was rev vs rev or profits vs profits?
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ChelseaNH
@chelseanh.bsky.social
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Tell me more about how you're "business-friendly" ...
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Blue Meme
@bluememe.bsky.social
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And they say America doesn’t make things anymore.
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Brent O. Saur
@brentosaur.bsky.social
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They get PAID to not mine?! So essentially they’ve found a way to hold the environment for ransom?
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John Cavnar-Johnson
@williamockham.bsky.social
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This is not a new issue with Bitcoin mining. This scam was built into the “market pricing” system that ERCOT created. The only new thing is the scale of the grift.
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DrGeophysics
@drgeophysics.bsky.social
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Libertarian utopia eh?
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Plognark
@plognark.bsky.social
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Well that’s just fucked.
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Pete Woods is full of love and pasta
@thatpetewoods.bsky.social
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The reason Texas invited them was to “use surplus power.” What that does is increase demand and raise the price of power use in off-hours thus raising all Texans’ electric bills. So Texans pay more overall for power thanks to crypto mining and then also pay the miners to stop during high demand.
1 replies 47 reposts 119 likes
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Viv Jackson
@vivienjackson.bsky.social
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I live in Texas. Can confirm. We are so backward here.
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Vausch
@vauschthepuca.bsky.social
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In a sane world the people of Texas would be forcing their way into these buildings with squirt guns full of salt water.
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Real (Fried) Friend 3
@rf3.bsky.social
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Texas also provides tax incentives for using stranded gas for crypto. Less directly wasteful but still propping up crypto
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@casualobserver.bsky.social
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'That's a mediocre electric grid you got there. Would be a shame if something were to happen to it'
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ADK
@andrewdk.bsky.social
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1 replies 2 reposts 19 likes
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Kate Violette
@kateviolette.com
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hey @sleepyneutrons.bsky.social new grid horror just dropped
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Vague Pariah
@vaguepariah.bsky.social
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This is industrial extortion
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Democracy Enjoyer
@yateslaw.bsky.social
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Electricity markets are not efficient and never will be. Just like healthcare. A market implies free choice, which is only available sometimes in using electricity... and healthcare.
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Prof. Kevin J. Kircher
@kevinjkircher.com
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not sure if anyone has reported on this but it's a big story IMO about a big, stupid misuse of ratepayer money to prop up the basically pointless cryprocurrency industry
@heatmap.news @volts.wtf
8 replies 14 reposts 136 likes
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_aa_
@uaau.bsky.social
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I think this is incorrect. In Aug '23 they sold a year of ERCOT credits and it's being compared to a single month of mining here. Better to look at the annual financials. 2022 annual report says they got ~$27m in ERCOT creds and mined ~$157m in btc. Spent ~$60m on energy after credits.
0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes