One Of The Biggest U.S. Energy Company Dukes Is Pursuing Bitcoin

According to reports, Duke Energy, one of the largest energy companies in the United States, is researching bitcoin mining with the intention of evaluating bitcoin technology and their system's potential for bitcoin mining.

The company's Lead Rates and Regulatory Strategy Analyst Justin Orkney confirmed the ongoing research into Bitcoin mining while making an appearance on Troy Cross's Bitcoin, Energy, and the Environment podcast on June 26.

​He noted that the findings will examine how to onboard miners on the grid before rolling out to the general public.

Orkney announced "that the company would leverage its micro-grid supplied with diverse energy sources to execute test runs with several tiers of miners" before the final report was published.

“We are exploring general customer phasing concepts <…> I’m working on a Bitcoin demand response study about including Bitcoin mining capacity in our system with an eye toward the demand response functionality <…> We are hoping to do a technology test,” Orkney said.

Complemented by Orkney Bitcoin Mining is an ideal candidate. At the same time, the official network says Duke Energy already has a number of small-scale Bitcoin miners, but Bitcoin has been harassed for using too much energy in the world.
​
Their customer base for utilities electricity is 7.4 million Americans. Duke Energy also supplies natural gas to nearly 1.5 million people. The company has about 53,000 megawatts of generating capacity in many states. In addition to operations in the United States, Duke Energy also has operations in Latin America.