Analysts say Duke Energy Corporation is studying Bitcoin mining used on demand response – Bitcoin News

According to management rates and the regulatory strategy analyst at Duke Energy Corporation, the second largest U.S. energy company is currently studying bitcoin mining. Chief analyst Justin Orkney said that a bitcoin demand response (DR) study was being worked on, and the energy company is collaborating with bitcoin miners who are registered in Duke’s DR programs.

The second largest US energy company is researching Bitcoin mining

The latest “Bitcoin, Energy and the Environment” podcast with Troy Cross, called “Duke Energy studies bitcoin,” features Justin Orkney, the energy company’s leading analyst and regulatory strategist. In the episode, the Orkney Islands and the podcast host discuss “bitcoins utility” and “really interesting opportunities” regarding energy demand response programs.

Basically, DR gives energy consumers the opportunity to operate the grid more efficiently by reducing or shifting loads. For example, with bitcoin mining, by being able to “strategically locate miners on the system – there is an opportunity to work with this type of customer,” Orkney said. While a majority of the conversation describes the Orkney Islands’ background in Solar and pilot studies on demand response, the analyst notes how bitcoin mining can be a powerful technology when it comes to DR components.

During the interview, the Orkney Islands emphasized that some of Duke Energy’s (NYSE: DUK) customers were bitcoin miners. “We have existing customers on our system,” Orkney Islands explained to the host. “They are voluntarily enrolled in our demand response programs. They basically consist of agreeing to limit usage at certain times of the year when we call events.”

“Bitcoin Mining Seems to Be the Really Powerful Demand Response Technology”

In the United States, most of the infrastructure such as transformers and transmission lines is more than two decades old. DR programs can allow online customers, some of whom may be bitcoin miners, to help the tools handle peak demand. Insufficient transmission capacity can be managed more efficiently to make old infrastructure more reliable. Orkney said that it is possible that bitcoin mining can be a technologically advanced DR method.

“Bitcoin mining seems to be the really powerful demand response technology where they can hum with a 100% power factor, or use the same amount of electricity all day, called flatline, and in a matter of minutes they can reduce usage at an accurate level of precision and hold it as long as they want, and then take it up again, Orkney said.

Bitcoin mining has received a lot of negative attention over the past year regarding the industry’s use of energy as the network allegedly consumes 91 terawatt hours of electricity annually. However, a number of bitcoiners believe the concerns about BTC’s energy consumption when it comes to mining are excessive. In addition, a recently published study shows that the Bitcoin network uses 50 times less energy than the traditional banking system.

In addition, the environmental, social and governance analyst (ESG), Daniel Batten, published a report indicating that bitcoin mining could potentially eliminate a significant amount of leaked methane and stressed that no technology could do better. Batten’s study shows that Bitcoin can strategically eliminate 0.15% of global CO2 equivalents by 2045.

Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke distributes energy to approximately 7.5 million electrical retail customers and operates in six states. The US holding company for electric power and natural gas manages 58,200 megawatts of power, and the Orkney Islands explain that Duke is the second largest American energy company, if not the largest in specific sectors.

In addition to Duke Energy Corporation, reports have shown that energy and gas giants such as Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Equinor, La Geo and Conocophillips have also explored bitcoin mining solutions in the energy industry.

What do you think about Duke Energy Corporation studying bitcoin mining? Tell us what you think about this topic in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is a news editor at Bitcoin.com News and a financial engineering journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,700 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols that are emerging today.