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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
By Alex Bennitt Crypto mining facilities are part of a growing category of large flexible loads (LFL) connecting to the grid at an accelerating pace. This leads toward more constraints, greater scrutiny of market-to-market coordination, and in some cases, litigation. In the case of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Independent System Operator (ISO), a new crypto mining facility, Atlas Power Data Center, significantly contributed to the highest day-ahead and real-time constraint for 2023 – Charlie Creek to Watford 230 KV. The Charlie Creek constraint bound at such extreme levels (about three times the next highest) that it was also the largest congestion cost in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) for 2023 because of Charlie Creek’s inclusion in market-to-market (M2M) coordination between SPP and MISO regarding shared constraints. The result? Pending litigation surrounding Charlie Creek’s inclusion in M2M coordination and litigation surrounding Atlas Power Data Center’s load expansion – to the point of attempting to cut power to the facility.Crypto load data has been hard to come by and even litigated when the Energy Information Administration (EIA) attempted to collect crypto mining power consumption data in February. Yes Energy’s Live Power® product happens to already have the data on Atlas Power, which provides significant insight into how the facility operates and drives congestion. Atlas Power is one facility encompassed in Live Power’s growing LFL coverage.Using Live Power data, we can delve into an in-depth analysis of the Charlie Creek constraint, Atlas Power Data Center, and the local Pioneer Generation Station, plus transmission data.Charlie Creek to Watford Is the Top RT/DA Constraint in SPP and MISOCharlie Creek to Watford 230 KV is the highest-priced real-time (RT) and day-ahead (DA) constraint in 2023 for SPP. It leads by a wide margin, with the real-time shadow price totaling $1.1 million across 35% of hours, about three times the next highest binding constraint (see chart below). In the day-ahead market, the constraint appeared in 68% of hours, twice real time. However, it was under-modeled in pricing, with the shadow price totaling $0.9 million. Charlie Creek to Watford bound at such extreme levels that it was also the highest-priced real-time and day-ahead constraint in MISO. This resulted in litigation concerning market-to-market (M2M) coordination between SPP and MISO – specifically the inclusion of the Charlie Creek constraint in M2M when MISO can’t easily respond to and alleviate the constraint. The extreme constraint levels stem from two factors.The constraint is entirely load-driven.The constraint location is at the far north edge of SPP, near the boundary of the eastern/western interconnection.This makes for a constraint with low amounts of generation on the positive side of the constraint that can respond to and alleviate the condition. Top four SPP real-time and day-ahead constraints for 2023Note: 2023 SPP constraint info, including shift factors, for 2023 can be found in Yes Energy’s Constraint Summary tool within PowerSignals: 2023 real-time constraints; 2023 day-ahead constraints.The Constraint Started Binding at High Levels When the Crypto Facility LaunchedBehind the constraint is localized load growth outside of
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