Bitcoin Mining and Population Growth Are Pushing the Texas Grid to the Brink

The Texas energy grid faced its first high-heat litmus test of the year this month as warming April temperatures placed an early strain on utilities. Earlier this month, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) had to postpone scheduled maintenance to “to help alleviate potential tight conditions” in order to keep up with energy demand as more residents turned on their air conditioning units. Worryingly, it wasn’t an intense or unprecedented heat wave that placed a stress test on the troubled grid, it was temperatures…