Leveraging bitcoin mining machines in demand-response mechanisms to mitigate ramping-induced transients

Several previous works examine the use of cryptographic mining machines, for instance Bitcoin mining machines, in demand-response mechanisms, as part of the portfolio of assets managed by the grid operator. This paper extends this formulation by addressing the effects of fast ramping transients, which may often occur in power grids rich with renewable energy sources. The resulting optimization problem is solved based on Pontryagin’s minimum principle. The solution is used to examine the profitability and usage of these machines in a real-world settings, based on data from the California ISO and the “Noga” grid operator. A sensitivity analysis is conducted, considering the effects of several key parameters, such as the electricity price, and the machines’ price, hashrate and monetary revenue. These are examined for several different machine types that are available in the market today. The main conclusion is that the profitability of the discussed mechanism is highly influenced by the cost of the mining machines, and the percentage of renewable sources within the energy mix, where some scenarios are more profitable then others.