Comment
Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Williston, North Dakota, driven specifically by a large load at a new crypto mining facility called Atlas Power Data Center, which Live Power monitors on a 60-second basis. Both the constraint (Charlie Creek to Watford 230 KV) and contingency (Charlie Creek to Patent Gate 345 KV) are on lines bringing power up to Williston. The contingency terminates one segment after Patent Gate at the Judson Substation, which Atlas Power connects into.Using the Constraint Summary module in Yes Energy's PowerSignals® offering, we can see extreme binding levels on Charlie Creek to Watford in the second to fourth quarters of 2023 when Atlas Power Data Center was operating at its full phase-one load (see chart above). Elevated binding levels on Charlie Creek to Watford started when Atlas Power was under construction, yet potentially drew partial power during the second to fourth quarters of 2022. The facility has plans for two additional phases that will bring total power consumption near 700 MW.Quarterly shadow price on Charlie Creek to Watford 230 KV from Q1 2019 through Q4 2023, $/MWhSource: Yes Energy’s constraint dataDay-Ahead Prices Impact Atlas Power Data CenterAtlas Power is a significant contributor to the Charlie Creek to Watford constraint, and it's likely to continue given little to no response in operations during periods of high, constraint-driven, real-time pricing. Live Power data on Atlas Power shows that the facility doesn’t curtail operations even with high real-time pricing (see graph below). This is in stark contrast with Live Power monitored Rockdale Crypto in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which significantly curtails operations at certain real-time price levels.Atlas Power appears to significantly respond to day-ahead prices at certain levels (see graph below), which could be related to the facility’s power contract with Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative (MWEC). Transaction data for the facility and Mountrail-Williams Electric are not readily available.Hourly Live Power monitored Atlas Power load versus real-time and day-ahead prices, MWWhen Atlas Power Load Drops, Binding on Charlie Creek to Watford Is Less LikelyDue to the Charlie Creek constraint being under-modeled in the day-ahead market, day-ahead prices often don’t reach high enough levels to cause Atlas Power curtailment. Therefore, the crypto mining facility ran at full operation levels for most of the three-month period for which Live Power has Atlas Power data. The facility drives real-time congestion so much that even minor reductions in facility operations caused significantly lower real-time shadow prices. When Atlas Power load dropped below a certain threshold, real-time shadow prices averaged $58.20/MWh, almost two times (44%) lower than the $103.70/MWh average shadow price in intervals with higher output. For intervals at higher load levels, the facility showed no real-time response, even with shadow prices pinned at $1,500/MWh. Hourly Live Power monitored Atlas Power load versus shadow price, Dec. 14, 2023, to current, $/MWhLive Power Line Flow on Patent Gate to Judson Is Highly Correlated with Charlie Creek Shadow PriceWhile Atlas Power’s load is a major driver of the Charlie Creek constraint, there are still certain flow conditions needed for the
Add Comment