Coal prices soar, electricity shortage, dry season, power outages at encrypted mining sites in the south

Wu Blockchain learned that due to the recent power shortage, Sichuan has imposed mandatory requirements on the cryptocurrency mining industry. Some mining farms have experienced power outages, and Xinjiang's Jungar region has also required emergency power-rationing plans and measures.

Due to the soaring coal prices this year, the price of thermal coal, the upstream raw material of power companies, has continued to rise since November. The thermal coal futures 01 contract has risen by more than 150 yuan in half a month. On December 11, the main contract thermal coal futures price once again hit the daily limit, at 777.2 yuan/ton, setting a new high in several years. The rise is expected to continue until mid-January 2021.

According to Ordos Coal Network, the deep-seated reason for the skyrocketing coal prices since November is that diplomatic reasons have caused Australian coal to stop being unloaded at ports, while the newly added Indonesian and Russian coal cannot be imported for the time being, and the gap with Australian coal indicators is quite large.

Due to the sharp increase in electricity load in Hunan Province, the reduction in coal consumption, the drop in reservoir water levels and the reduction in external electricity have caused a large power supply gap in the entire Hunan network, which is expected to continue until around the Spring Festival. Changsha has launched orderly power consumption work, and the Changsha Development and Reform Commission has issued an orderly power consumption initiative to the general public. Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Inner Mongolia and other regions have also begun to limit power.

At the end of November, the Sichuan Economic and Information Technology Department issued a notice on ensuring electricity supply during the dry season this winter and next spring, stating that the province's social electricity consumption increased by 16.6% in October; industrial electricity consumption increased by 13.8% year-on-year. The province's electricity supply will be tight this winter and next spring, and requirements are required to ensure the allocation of electricity consumption indicators and hierarchical control.

Due to the rising coal prices, which has increased the pressure on thermal power operation, and the lower temperature in Sichuan, which has increased the electricity consumption of residents, a recent notice from a mining company stated that Sichuan Province requires all hydropower stations to stop supplying power to big data centers from December 8. Wu said that according to the blockchain investigation, some Sichuan mines did have power outages, but they were not completely stopped, and many mines are still operating.

Industry insiders pointed out that it is common in Sichuan to give priority to stopping the use of electricity in mining farms during peak periods of electricity consumption. In August, there was a large-scale power outage in Sichuan mining farms. The reason may be that it was hot in summer and there was a peak in electricity consumption. Sichuan needed to supply electricity to major cities such as Chengdu and Chongqing, which led to the suspension of electricity use in mining farms around Chengdu. The key to the future is whether the coal problem can be effectively solved after the chain reaction that led to the economic downturn.

There are also rumors of power outages in Xinjiang, but Wu said that the blockchain is more of a routine winter power shortage emergency plan, leaving a certain load. Since Xinjiang has a large amount of self-produced coal resources and less electricity consumption in industrial society, it is not affected by the above factors.

There is no news of power rationing in Yunnan, but the industry is generally worried that there will be a negative factor next year. Shandong Weiqiao Group is transferring 30% of its electrolytic aluminum production capacity from Shandong to Yunnan. The first phase will be put into operation in September 2020, and the entire plant is scheduled to be put into operation in December 2021. Weiqiao Group has become the world's largest electrolytic aluminum supplier through its own power plant isolated grid model. Its industrial electricity consumption is huge, which will squeeze the electricity consumption of cryptocurrency mines.

At present, the computing power of the entire network has also begun to show a downward trend, but it may be more of a matter of luck. Whether it is related to power shortage, we still need to observe the average computing power in the next 7 days.