Texas a Bitcoin ‘hot spot’ even as heat waves affect crypto miners

Record-breaking heat waves are being documented across the world as extreme weather is worsening due to climate change. States throughout America are continuing to see temperatures rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), while the United Kingdom recently saw temperatures reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). 

While hot climates may be unusual for many of these regions, Texas — a state notorious for its boiling summers — is experiencing hotter-than-usual temperatures. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) recently stated that Texas’ power load demand has been breaking records consistently this month.

Unsurprisingly, Texas’ continuous heat wave is having a major impact on crypto miners located throughout the Lone Star State. As Cointelegraph recently reported, a number of miners in Texas had to cease operations entirely earlier this month in order to accommodate Texas’ energy grid load.

Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, told Cointelegraph that there are about 10 industrial-scale crypto miners and 20 smaller-scale miners currently located in the region. 

Earlier this month, ERCOT asked businesses and residents to voluntarily conserve electricity during the Texas heat wave. A Riot Blockchain spokesperson told Cointelegraph that its Whinstone facility in Rockdale is now participating in ERCOT’s Four Coincident Peak program, noting that the facility will curtail all power to help stabilize the grid during peak hours of demand. “As part of Riot’s participation in the program, in June the company curtailed energy consumption for a total of 8,648 megawatt hours,” the spokesperson said.

Peter Wall, CEO of Argo Blockchain — a crypto mining company that recently opened a data center in West Texas — also told Cointelegraph that the company curtails mining operations when ERCOT sends out a conservation alert. On July 19, 2022, he said that Agro had to undergo this, along with many other mining operators in the area.

As a result, Bitcoin (BTC) miners saw the biggest drop in computing power on July 21, 2022, since China banned crypto mining in May 2021. This came as a surprise to industry experts who would have expected the Bitcoin hash rate difficulty to increase based on current trends. Frank Holmes, CEO of Hive Blockchain Technology — a publicly traded crypto mining company with operations in Canada and Europe — told Cointelegraph that Bitcoin’s hash rate difficulty was supposed to rise 3% each month based on financial models, but that this hasn’t been the case due to a number of reasons. He said:

“As the price of Bitcoin fell, many S9 mining machines went off, or electricity surged and miners had to stop operations. But more importantly, many machines that were going to be plugged in are now unable to be utilized, which has also made the difficulty go down.” 

Holmes noted that the drop in Bitcoin computing power has been beneficial for Hive since their facilities have not been impacted by climate change or other factors. He added that new mining machines are being delivered to Hive each month and that slots are being filled to accommodate growth. Yet, Holmes shared that Hive continues to scout out locations to establish its next mining facility in Texas, which will serve as the company’s first U.S. establishment. 

Despite Texas’ extreme weather conditions on miners, Holmes explained that Hive’s method of using 100% green energy to mine both Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) will not disrupt the state’s power grid. Holmes elaborated that Hive’s future Texas facility will operate as a solar wind farm, which will not be subject to ERCOT’s regulations. “There are various locations in Texas that have the infrastructure we require for this. There are also credits to ensure that we build a solar farm.”

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While Holmes is confident that Hive will soon operate in Texas, he…