Leveraging Bitcoin Miners as Flexible Load Resources for Power System Stability and Efficiency

This working paper was developed from an unfinished paper that Nic Carter and Shuan Connell had originally drafted. We added Dennis Porter, Brad Jones (former Chair of ERCOT) to the mix and I prepped it up for an academic journal submission. Here is the download for the most recent version of the paper:

https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4634256

Abstract:

This review examines the role of Bitcoin mining as a possible catalyst for accelerating the global shift towards clean energy and effective power grid management. Amidst the evolving landscape of energy systems and grid operations, demand response and flexible load resources are becoming crucially important. We focus on the emergence of Bitcoin mining as an important feature for industrial-scale demand response, making use of miners’ inherent characteristics of interruptibility and swift response to enhance grid flexibility. Bitcoin mining can also directly utilize stranded energy resources, suggesting it is a novel technology for improving grid efficiency and facilitating rapid growth in renewable energy production. By leveraging their unique attributes, Bitcoin miners demonstrate how they might contribute to the coming energy transition, highlighting the potency of cross-cutting financial and technological innovation in shaping a sustainable and interconnected energy framework.