Shaun Connell - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlLAmKzOTlU • Background in Energy since 2002 (from East Coast Canada - went to Calgary) • Transalta company - Marketing Energy • Trading Energy for ~20 years and optimizing Nat Gas generating assets • Bitcoin Mining is wild wild west • 3:20 - Exahashes - how many exahash/MWh can you produce? • 4:15 - his intro to Bitcoin • Commodity prices always converge and arbitrage the spread • Transalta considering Bitcoin mining • 7:30 - Energy companies reaction to Bitcoin • Companies afraid to be the first-mover in Energy industry • Thinks it will take a large company to take the initiative, then others follow • How much of the value chain should energy companies partake in? • Should they think about Bitcoin as upgrading their value chain? • 12:25 - on a scale of 1-10, how much do energy companies understand Bitcoin? • At first, a 1-2… now it's on everybody's radar. Some feel they missed the boat. • Dollar per day of TeraHash • 15:00 - what would Bitcoin mining do to Energy Companies margin % • "Converting local megawatts to Global Megawatts" • CAPEX depreciation schedule in energy is 25-50 years. Miners are 4 years. • Older rigs can be used to take advantage of wasted energy. • 23:00 - you can tap into stranded energy with bitcoin mining in which you couldn't before. • Bitcoin is like the ultimate capacitor. • Older miners, you can just plug in especially if they are spewing energy and pick up for next to nothing • 28:30 - bitcoin is the Rolls Royce of demand response. Especially if globohomo wants all electric, carbon zero • Steel mills are the best form of demand response until bitcoin mining • 100TH/s miner is like having 100 trillion jobs completed per second. • The ultimate load balancing method. • 33:00 - is bitcoin mining improving politically or regulatorily? • Brad Jones talking about mining - ERCOT - https://www.ercot.com/about/governance/biography?id=580c137f-a589-3af7-b17d-598d67f91be4 • They are an islanded electricity grid - makes them flexible • Frequency response… ability to control the heartbeat of the grid better • Power Generation • Interties • Batteries • Demand Response • Bitcoin Mining is a grid operators SWISS ARMY KNIFE to address these.
• 37:10 - Incentivizes the miners to work together and cooperate? • ERCOT is like a clearinghouse • Able to buy energy at spot price • Humans that need power are going to be prioritized bc Texas is free market • Will see more evidence of miners going down… • Miners are the floor for energy. • For example with rising energy prices, people will turn S9's off. • Bitcoin is the buyer of last resort • 45:30 - People will sell rigs to address global demand. Will anything stop Bitcoin Mining? • Feel very confident… • Bitcoin rabbit hole makes you ask: What is Energy? • If Nuclear energy was invented today, it would be the magic pill • What if an executive order happens and they ban mining? • Able to better answer how Bitcoin helps renewables • 50:00 - addressing Proof of Stake • 51:30 - who eats who? Mining companies or Energy companies? • Batteries are a tool for an energy transition • $1million for a MW of wind. $250K for miner racking solution. • Energy companies will think about racking solutions during CAPEX decisions • 56:50 - miners being controlled by large companies, thoughts? • 58:20 - Price appreciation in Bitcoin, market hard to adapt to the fast volatility • Bitcoin can help balance the energy prices • 1:06:30 - What are people missing on all this? • People don't grasp the scope of what a 500MW site can do in terms of load balancing and renewable use • 2MW pales in comparison 1:11:09 - what would you say to policymakers listening?