Greenidge Generation says it provided nearly all of its power to the local grid this week in response to high electricity demand during the recent heat wave.
The company, which operates a combined cryptocurrency datacenter and power plant in Dresden, reported that 99.5% of its generated electricity was sent to the grid on Wednesday. Earlier in the week, the facility supplied 88% of its output to the grid on both Monday and Tuesday.
The shift comes after the New York Independent System Operator issued an Energy Warning, citing a drop in operating reserves and potential emergency actions to maintain system reliability.
Greenidge says it can quickly scale back its crypto mining operations to prioritize electricity for the grid and that the facility is required to supply power during its operations as part of its agreement with NYISO.
“As demand on the power grid remains high, we are going to continue to help meet the needs of our community,” said Greenidge Generation President Dale Irwin. “We’ve invested tens of millions to modernize this facility and to keep it online, so we help keep prices down and help ensure the electrical system does not go down during critical moments. None of the folks who want our local employees fired and this facility shut down ever seem to want to acknowledge those facts. Literally every minute we produce power, we are sending power to the grid – it’s a required component of our operating agreement. And we increase production when we need to step up.”
Irwin added that before Greenidge’s fully approved crypto mining operation, the facility’s time from start-up to high-power generation for the grid was approximately 14 hours. Now, reaching a high-power supply to the grid takes only minutes.
