zlacker

>>RobinL+(OP)
California is facing a similar issue dealing with its solar duck curve[1], where prices essentially go negative during periods of peak solar generation.

As far as I know residential PG&E customers can't buy energy in spot market prices, or else there could be some innovative arbitrage opportunities, like only running bitcoin miners when power is cheap.

1. https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/confronting-duck-curve-...

>>ed2551+6f
If only there were some actually useful use of excessive energy that weren’t mining bitcoin.

>>sh1mme+Si
Charging cars, heating water in a well insulated tank

>>youngt+CI
It's great when we can use off peak energy for things like this, but they're not as easy to locate onsite as bitcoin miners .. and difficulty with transmission is a big part of the problem

>>cwalv+Fm1
Electric cars have utility as we can use them to transport us from one place to another.

Bitcoin on the other hand is just a waste of energy