Texas Governor Greg Abbott, according to Bloomberg news, reportedly asked them to help stabilize the state’s power grid last October during a meeting with mining entrepreneurs. His goal would thus be to avoid, thanks precisely to Bitcoin miners, a blackout like the historic one that occurred in February last year, after a series of storms that hit the state.
Texas’ plan with Bitcoin mining
The Republican governor of the oil- and gas-rich American state has operated an incentive policy in recent months to attract Bitcoin mining companies and operators, who had to leave China after the ban imposed on cryptocurrency by the country’s authorities.
Bitcoin mining has long been often considered as a very energy-intensive activity, which also determines a great cost at an environmental level, as also claimed recently by the CEO of Tesla Elon Musk.
Nevertheless, many Texas politicians and oil and gas industry players do not seem to have the same opinion.
Senator Ted Cruz and the mayor of Austin Steve Adler, have recently declared to see mining as a solution to other energy problems. Governor Abbott himself, has promoted policies to encourage the entry of Bitcoin miners precisely because he sees their arrival as positive for a future stabilization of the power grid.
The disputes
The electrical grid of the country, however, has often shown to be unable to withstand the impact of periods of high concentration of consumption, as happened in the very cold February of last year. The governor of Texas evidently thinks that the arrival of cryptocurrency mining companies could lead to an increase in investment in energy infrastructure.
According to some of the governor’s detractors, this would be a move purely for electoral purposes, considering that the state’s presidential election will be held in November 2022.
“It’s really a healthy dynamic that brings tax revenue, brings job creation and also is a grid strengthening mechanism. Governor Abbott’s been very supportive”.
That’s what Texas Blockchain Council President Lee Bratcher said about it in an interview with the Bloomberg television network.
What seems to be established now is that Texas has become the first country in the world in terms of mining activities, with about 45% of mining concentrated within its borders, as predicted by President Abbott himself via tweet in May
Texas Is Becoming A Mecca For Bitcoin Miners.#Bitcoin @Nasdaq @Bitcoin https://t.co/mNaSBG6EIT
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 5, 2021
It is now a matter of seeing whether the arrival of so many entrepreneurs in the sector will really bring benefits in terms of private investment in the energy infrastructure network of the State, something on which Abbott is evidently aiming, especially for electoral purposes.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/02/01/texas-governor-power-grid-bitcoin-mining/