Texas’ strategy is to encourage additional growth in the crypto mining sector because ostensibly they use a lot of power during off-peak days/hours which supports capital payback but also is flexible enough to turn off their load when the grid production is over stressed, so they theoretically won’t contribute to blackouts.

Not sure if this thinking is fully correct, but on its face it’s at minimum not completely absurd.

Also I think some of the Texas leadership is financially or emotionally invested in cryptocurrency.

They already do this. Commercial rates are cheaper than residential rates.

(Residential customers are getting ripped off, honestly)

Texas would never do anything that makes them appear 'anti-business' though. It goes against the entire political ethos of the folks in charge down there.

That would require admitting that the free market can't solve the problem, and likely makes it worse.

Texas needs a capacity market, where generators are paid based on their must run status. They choose not to previously because of politics (prioritizing low cost over resiliency). The PUC is working to fix this ("performance credit mechanism").

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/01/texas-power-market-p...

That doesn’t gel with lobbyists.

Wat? There isnt already such a thing?