Blockchain technologies are considered one of the most disruptive innovations of the last decade, enabling secure decentralized trust-building. However, in recent years, with the rapid increase in the energy consumption of blockchain-based computations for cryptocurrency mining, there have been growing concerns about their sustainable operation in electric grids. This paper investigates the tri-factor impact of such large loads on carbon footprint, grid reliability, and electricity market price in the Texas grid. We release open-source high-resolution data to enable high-resolution modeling of influencing factors such as location and flexibility. We reveal that the per-megawatt-hour carbon footprint of cryptocurrency mining loads across locations can vary by as much as 50% of the crude system average estimate. We show that the flexibility of mining loads can significantly mitigate power shortages and market disruptions that can result from the deployment of mining loads. These findings suggest policymakers to facilitate the participation of large mining facilities in wholesale markets and require them to provide mandatory demand response.

翻译：区块链技术被视为过去十年最具颠覆性的创新之一，实现了安全的去中心化信任构建。然而，近年来随着加密货币挖矿中基于区块链的计算能耗快速增长，其在电网中的可持续运行引发日益关注。本文研究了此类大负荷对德克萨斯州电网碳足迹、电网可靠性和电力市场价格的三大影响。我们发布开源高分辨率数据，以实现对选址和灵活性等影响因素的精细化建模。研究揭示，不同选址的加密货币挖矿负荷每兆瓦时碳足迹差异可达粗放式系统平均估算值的50%。我们证明挖矿负荷的灵活性可显著缓解因部署此类负荷导致的电力短缺和市场扰动。这些发现建议政策制定者促进大型挖矿设施参与批发市场，并要求其提供强制性需求响应。