Ray Cline and Shaun Connell (Lancium) on Stabilizing the Grid with Bitcoin Mining

Ray Cline, Lancium CTO, and Shaun Connell, EVP Power at Lancium, join the show. We cover the changing Texas grid, several models for renewable based mining, and how miners can serve as a controllable load. In this episode:

• Personal backgrounds and crossing the threshold from energy to Bitcoin
• Origins of Lancium
• Features of Texas grid
• Why Texas is so suitable for renewables
• How Texas is the ‘Saudi Arabia’ of renewable generation
• Why renewables grew so fast in Texas
• Two reasons why prices reach negative prices
• Three models for mining
  • Grid connected with new gen miners
  • Renewable colocation with new gen miners
  • Off grid renewable colocation with old gen miners
• How different ASIC vintages affect the power price you can tolerate for the units and what interruptibility they can deal with
• ERCOT’s surplus renewable power
• How the Texas grid is splitting in half
• How Bitcoin is a ‘premium customer’ for energy assets
• Why miners depreciate their miners over 4-5 years, and not 1-2 years as Digiconomist claims
• Are energy producers aware of the importance of Bitcoin mining as an alternative energy buyer?
• Introduction to Demand Response
• What a Controllable Load Resource is and how Bitcoin miners uniquely satisfy the requirements
• History of Controllable Load in ERCOT
• Why controllable load is so useful to grid operators
• Why Bitcoin miners can be flexible load, and why other industrial consumers of energy cannot
• Why the economics of operating an interruptible load as a miner make sense
• Are other grid operators looking to build programs for BTC miners?
• Do Bitcoin miners decarbonize the Texas grid in the final analysis?
• Will Bitcoin mining improve the reliability of the grid?

Sponsor notes:

• This episode supported by Public.com. Start investing with as little as $1 and get a free slice of stock up to $50 when you join Public.com today. Visit public.com/onthebrink to download the app and sign up.
• This episode is brought to you by Withum, a top 25 accounting firm with a cutting-edge Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology practice. To learn more, visit  withum.com/crypto.