Winter Storm Fern Forces US Bitcoin Miners to Shut Down as Power Grid Faces Record Demand

TLDR

• Foundry USA’s Bitcoin mining hashrate dropped 60% (200 EH/s) since Friday due to winter storm curtailments
• Over 800,000 US homes and businesses lost power as winter storm Fern brings ice and snow across multiple states
• Texas power grid expects record demand of 86 gigawatts on Monday, surpassing August 2023 peak
• Bitcoin miners voluntarily shut down operations to reduce stress on electrical grids during extreme weather
• Natural gas prices jumped 19% to over $6 per million BTUs, highest level since 2022

Winter storm Fern has forced Bitcoin mining operations across the United States to curtail operations as the power grid faces unprecedented seasonal demand. The storm has brought snow, ice, and freezing rain across the Southeast, Northeast, and parts of the Midwest.

Foundry USA, one of the largest Bitcoin mining pools, saw its hashrate drop by nearly 200 exahashes per second since Friday. This represents a 60% decrease in computing power dedicated to securing the Bitcoin network. The pool still commands about 198 EH/s of hashing power, accounting for roughly 23% of global mining pool hashrate.

The curtailment has slowed temporary block production on the Bitcoin network to 12 minutes. Other mining pools serving US customers, including Luxor, have also reported reduced operations as miners respond to the emergency conditions.

Bitcoin miners serve as a controllable load resource for electrical grids. They can adjust their energy consumption to balance the grid during times of peak demand and low consumer usage. During this winter storm, miners have voluntarily powered down their operations to allow energy to flow to residential consumers.

More than 800,000 homes and businesses nationwide are currently without electricity. Ice more than 0.75 inches thick has coated tree branches and power lines, causing widespread damage. The majority of outages have occurred in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Grid Operators Brace for Extended Cold Snap

The PJM Interconnection grid, which stretches from Chicago to Washington DC, warned it is preparing for seven straight days of extreme demand. This represents a winter streak that the grid operator has never experienced before. The organization is paying some major customers like manufacturers to reduce power use to prevent rolling blackouts.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas expects record demand of 86 gigawatts on Monday. This would surpass the previous high set in August 2023. The Texas grid is facing tight conditions with loss of generation and transmission line issues reported in the San Antonio and Houston areas.

Day-ahead power prices for Monday in the PJM grid territory reached the highest levels since a polar vortex in early 2014. In Texas, power for Monday’s peak-demand hours climbed 1,200% from the Sunday average to $516.25 a megawatt-hour.

Natural gas prices surged when trading opened late Sunday. The US natural gas benchmark jumped as much as 19% to more than $6 per million British thermal units. This represents the highest level seen since 2022.

Federal Response and Emergency Measures

The Energy Department issued emergency orders authorizing PJM to run power plants at maximum capability. This includes facilities fueled by coal and oil, regardless of limits established under environmental rules or state law. Similar orders were issued for ISO New England and the Texas grid.

The federal government asked grid operators to make backup power available from facilities including data centers. The Energy Department ordered Texas grid operator Ercot to use backup diesel generators at data centers during periods of extreme stress.

President Donald Trump approved emergency aid for a dozen states hit by the storm. The aid frees up federal equipment and offers reimbursement for services such as sheltering and evacuations.

The storm forced more than 3,500 weekday flight cancellations across the US as of late Sunday evening. New York City announced that approximately 500,000 public school students would have remote instruction on Monday.

Dallas is under an extreme cold warning until Tuesday with wind chills expected to plunge as low as -10F. Overnight lows in Washington DC will struggle to reach 10F for most of the week. The upper Midwest is experiencing wind chills around -40F.

The winter storm is projected to extend about 1,800 miles across the United States. Some weather stations in Mississippi were knocked offline due to ice-driven outages, leaving government forecasters and first responders without current condition data. The prolonged freeze in coming days will increase the risk of additional power outages as ice continues to snap tree branches onto power lines.

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