DTXwavey_02
All Star
In usual Texas fashion now it’s sunny as hell outside 
Texas Brehs and Brehettes how y’all handling this winter storm?
- Thread starter Turk
- Start date
CashmereThoughts
Veteran
Single digits tomorrow night then back to upper 40s and 50s next week in NY. Winter has been real lightnortheast about to get hit too
did abbott ever fix them pipes? power grid?
Texas miner earns more from idling rigs than digging Bitcoin
It's not a broken business model if the subsidies make up for cratering market and flagging demand
www.theregister.com
Texas cryptomining outfit earns more from idling rigs than digging Bitcoin
It's not a broken business model if the subsidies make up for cratering market and flagging demand
Brandon VigliaroloThu 7 Sep 2023 // 17:30 UTC
Bitcoin mining outfit Riot Platforms earned $31.7 million from Texas power authorities last month for curtailing operations – far more than the value of the Bitcoin it mined in the same period.
In a press release yesterday, Riot said it produced 333 Bitcoin at its mining operations in Rockdale, Texas, which would have been worth just shy of $9 million on August 31. All the cash earned from those energy credits, on the other hand, equates to around 1,136 Bitcoin, Riot CEO Jason Les said in the company's monthly update.
"August was a landmark month for Riot in showcasing the benefits of our unique power strategy," Les said. "Riot achieved a new monthly record for Power and Demand Response Credits … which surpassed the total amount of all Credits received in 2022.
"These credits significantly lower Riot's cost to mine Bitcoin and are a key element in making Riot one of the lowest cost producers of Bitcoin in the industry," Les said.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) operates a demand response program that allows big energy consumers, like Riot, to earn power credits for using less of it for operations and selling power back to the grid, as well as additional credit for being enrolled in its demand response programs.
As we reported in August of last year, the company earned $9.5 million in credits during a July 2022 heatwave as well – still far less than it earned in Texas's hottest August on record this year.
Energy prices have been generally up, and aren't coming down, but you know what has deflated? The price of a Bitcoin. Sure, the price of 1 BTC has been up from the depths it plumbed late last year, but hovering in the mid-$20k range all year is nothing like the heady late-2021 highs of near $70k per coin.
The combination of inflated electricity costs and a drop in the value of Bitcoin means mining simply isn't as profitable as it was in 2021, the year Riot's revenue soared as demand for, and the value of, Bitcoins rose.
Fast forward just a year and things began looking different. Losses followed as Bitcoin prices plummeted and trade volume started to shrink – a problem that has only continued in the crypto world.
Analysts see Bitcoin miners struggling, and JPMorgan Chase said recently that the market cap of the largest Bitcoin mining firms in the US dropped by 21 percent in August. Surprise, surprise – Riot, with a 39 percent drop in market cap over the month, was the worst hit. While Riot's stock is up this year, like Bitcoin its value has dropped precipitously since 2021, when the mining firm peaked at $71.33 a share. Today it's worth just $11.10.
But if ERCOT is going to pay the market mWh rate for not mining, it can't be that bad of a business model.
Neither ERCOT nor Riot responded to questions for this story. ®
Texas power plants have no responsibility to provide electricity in emergencies, judges rule
A panel of judges has said that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the 2021 blackout. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.
www.kut.org
Texas power plants have no responsibility to provide electricity in emergencies, judges rule
KUT 90.5 | By Mose BuchelePublished December 15, 2023 at 3:39 PM CST
Gabriel C. Pérez / KUT
The decision now leaves the families of those who died during the 2021 blackout unsure where next to seek justice.
Almost three years since the deadly Texas blackout of 2021, a panel of judges from the First Court of Appeals in Houston has ruled that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the crisis. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.
The decision seems likely to protect the companies from lawsuits filed against them after the blackout. It leaves the families of those who died unsure where next to seek justice.
In February of 2021, a massive cold front descended on Texas, bringing days of ice and snow. The weather increased energy demand and reduced supply by freezing up power generators and the state’s natural gas supply chain. This led to a blackout that left millions of Texans without energy for nearly a week.
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The state has said almost 250 people diedbecause of the winter storm and blackout, but some analysts call that a serious undercount.
Within days of the storm, Texans affected by the failure of the energy system began filing lawsuits. Some of those suits were brought against power generators whose plants had stopped working in the storm or had run out of fuel to generate electricity.
After years of legal process, a three-judge panel convened to decide on the merits of those lawsuits.
This week, Chief Justice Terry Adams issued the unanimous opinion of that panel that “Texas does not currently recognize a legal duty owed by wholesale power generators to retail customers to provide continuous electricity to the electric grid, and ultimately to the retail customers.”
The opinion states that big power generators “are now statutorily precluded by the legislature from having any direct relationship with retail customers of electricity.”
The Texas energy market
That legal separation of power generation from transmission and retail electric sales in many parts of Texas resulted from energy market deregulation in the early 2000s. The aim was to reduce energy costs.Before deregulation, power companies were “vertically integrated.” That means they controlled generators, transmission lines and sold the energy they produced and transported directly to a regional customer base. Parts of Texas, like Austin, with publicly owned utilities still operate under such a system.
But in other parts of the state, deregulation broke up those regional energy monopolies, creating competing energy-generating companies and retail electric providers that buy power wholesale from generators and then re-sell it to residential consumers.
“One consequence of that was, because of the unbundling and the separation, you also don’t have the same duties and obligations [to consumers],” Tré Fischer, a partner with law firm Jackson Walker who represented the power companies told KUT.
“The structure just doesn't allow for that direct relationship and correspondingly a direct obligation to continually supply the electricity even if there's a natural disaster or catastrophic event,” he added.
In the opinion, Justice Adams noted that, when designing the Texas energy market, state lawmakers “could have codified the retail customers’ asserted duty of continuous electricity on the part of wholesale power generators into law.”
What comes next?
The recent opinion applies to five cases the panel of judges took as representative of the hundreds filed after the blackout. Because of the ruling, it is unlikely that any of those lawsuits against power companies could be successful, according to the court.But plaintiffs' lawyers have told Texas Law Book they plan to appeal.
Fischer said the plaintiffs' attorneys could ask the entire F1st Court of Appeals to review the panel’s opinion, or they could appeal to the state supreme court. KUT has reached out to lawyers representing plaintiffs in these cases and will update if we hear back.
The state Supreme Court has already ruled that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s power grid operator, enjoys sovereign immunity and cannot be sued over the blackout.
Now, this recent opinion leaves the question of who, if anyone, may be taken to court over deaths and losses incurred in the blackout.
“It’s certainly left unaddressed by this opinion because the court wasn’t being asked that question,” Fischer said. “If anything [the judges] were saying that is a question for the Texas legislature.”
SteelCitySoldier
TSC Fantasy Football Champion 2016
This is fukking crazyTexas power plants have no responsibility to provide electricity in emergencies, judges rule
A panel of judges has said that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the 2021 blackout. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.Texas power plants have no responsibility to provide electricity in emergencies, judges rule
KUT 90.5 | By Mose Buchele
Published December 15, 2023 at 3:39 PM CST
Gabriel C. Pérez / KUT
The decision now leaves the families of those who died during the 2021 blackout unsure where next to seek justice.
Almost three years since the deadly Texas blackout of 2021, a panel of judges from the First Court of Appeals in Houston has ruled that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the crisis. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.
The decision seems likely to protect the companies from lawsuits filed against them after the blackout. It leaves the families of those who died unsure where next to seek justice.
In February of 2021, a massive cold front descended on Texas, bringing days of ice and snow. The weather increased energy demand and reduced supply by freezing up power generators and the state’s natural gas supply chain. This led to a blackout that left millions of Texans without energy for nearly a week.
Subscribe to the podcast
The state has said almost 250 people diedbecause of the winter storm and blackout, but some analysts call that a serious undercount.
Within days of the storm, Texans affected by the failure of the energy system began filing lawsuits. Some of those suits were brought against power generators whose plants had stopped working in the storm or had run out of fuel to generate electricity.
After years of legal process, a three-judge panel convened to decide on the merits of those lawsuits.
This week, Chief Justice Terry Adams issued the unanimous opinion of that panel that “Texas does not currently recognize a legal duty owed by wholesale power generators to retail customers to provide continuous electricity to the electric grid, and ultimately to the retail customers.”
The opinion states that big power generators “are now statutorily precluded by the legislature from having any direct relationship with retail customers of electricity.”
The Texas energy market
That legal separation of power generation from transmission and retail electric sales in many parts of Texas resulted from energy market deregulation in the early 2000s. The aim was to reduce energy costs.
Before deregulation, power companies were “vertically integrated.” That means they controlled generators, transmission lines and sold the energy they produced and transported directly to a regional customer base. Parts of Texas, like Austin, with publicly owned utilities still operate under such a system.
But in other parts of the state, deregulation broke up those regional energy monopolies, creating competing energy-generating companies and retail electric providers that buy power wholesale from generators and then re-sell it to residential consumers.
“One consequence of that was, because of the unbundling and the separation, you also don’t have the same duties and obligations [to consumers],” Tré Fischer, a partner with law firm Jackson Walker who represented the power companies told KUT.
“The structure just doesn't allow for that direct relationship and correspondingly a direct obligation to continually supply the electricity even if there's a natural disaster or catastrophic event,” he added.
In the opinion, Justice Adams noted that, when designing the Texas energy market, state lawmakers “could have codified the retail customers’ asserted duty of continuous electricity on the part of wholesale power generators into law.”
What comes next?
The recent opinion applies to five cases the panel of judges took as representative of the hundreds filed after the blackout. Because of the ruling, it is unlikely that any of those lawsuits against power companies could be successful, according to the court.
But plaintiffs' lawyers have told Texas Law Book they plan to appeal.
Fischer said the plaintiffs' attorneys could ask the entire F1st Court of Appeals to review the panel’s opinion, or they could appeal to the state supreme court. KUT has reached out to lawyers representing plaintiffs in these cases and will update if we hear back.
The state Supreme Court has already ruled that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s power grid operator, enjoys sovereign immunity and cannot be sued over the blackout.
Now, this recent opinion leaves the question of who, if anyone, may be taken to court over deaths and losses incurred in the blackout.
“It’s certainly left unaddressed by this opinion because the court wasn’t being asked that question,” Fischer said. “If anything [the judges] were saying that is a question for the Texas legislature.”
Unregulated capitalism 
Richard Glidewell
Superstar
Underfoot under duress.......Unregulated capitalism
Koapa
Superstar
I plan on buying some good weed tomorrow and go buy some groceries in the morning.
I have logs for my fireplace. My outside pipes are thoroughly wrapped.
I have a lil fine azz shorty some over Monday. Freakoffs Mon-Wednes
I have logs for my fireplace. My outside pipes are thoroughly wrapped.
I have a lil fine azz shorty some over Monday. Freakoffs Mon-Wednes
Houston storm knocked out electricity to nearly 1 million users and left several dead, including a man who tried to power an oxygen tank with his car
The balmy weather is a concern in a region where more than a half-million homes and businesses remained without electricity Saturday morning — down from nearly 1 million.
Houston storm knocked out electricity to nearly 1 million users and left several dead, including a man who tried to power an oxygen tank with his car
BYLEKAN OYEKANMI, DAVID J. PHILLIP AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESSMay 18, 2024 at 11:18 AM EDT
The storm knocked out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area.
DAVID J. PHILLIP—AP PHOTO
As the Houston area works to clean up and restore power to thousands after deadly storms that left at least seven people dead, it will do so Saturday under a smog warning and as all of southern Texas starts to feel the heat.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said three people died during the storm, including an 85-year-old woman whose home caught fire after being struck by lightning and a 60-year-old man who had tried to use his vehicle to power his oxygen tank.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire previously said at least four people were killed in the city when the storms swept through Harris County, which includes Houston.
The National Weather Service issued flood advisories and watches for parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
LACK OF ELECTRICITY RAISES POSSIBILITY OF HEAT-RELATED ILLNESS
The National Weather Service in Houston warned that with temperatures hitting around 90 degrees (32.2 C) this weekend, people should know the symptoms of heat exhaustion. ”Don’t overdo yourself during the cleanup process,” it said in a post on the social platform X.
The balmy weather is a concern in a region where more than a half-million homes and businesses remained without electricity Saturday morning — down from nearly 1 million, according to PowerOutage.us.
Fierce storms Thursday with winds of up to 100 mph (161 kph) blew out windows downtown, while a tornado touched down near the the northwest Houston suburb of Cypress.
POWER COULD BE OUT FOR WEEKS IN SOME AREAS
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Friday that it could take weeks for power to be restored in some areas.
With multiple transmission towers down, Hidalgo urged patience. Another 21,000 customers were without power in Louisiana, where strong winds and a suspected tornado hit, down from a peak of 215,000.
The Houston Health Department said it would distribute 400 free portable air conditioners to area seniors, people with disabilities and caregivers of disabled children.
WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTION BRINGS HOUSTON TO A STANDSTILL
The widespread destruction brought much of Houston to a standstill. Trees, debris and shattered glass littered the streets. One building’s brick wall was ripped off.
School districts in the Houston area canceled classes Friday for more than 400,000 students and government offices were closed. City officials urged people to avoid downtown and stay off roads, many of which were flooded or lined with downed power lines and malfunctioning traffic lights.
Mayor Whitmire warned that police were out in force, including state troopers sent to the area to prevent looting. He said the speed and intensity of the storm caught many off guard.
“Most Houstonians didn’t have time to place themselves out of harm’s way,” Whitmire said at a news conference.
Noelle Delgado pulled up Thursday night to Houston Pets Alive, the animal rescue organization where she is executive director to find the dogs and cats — more than 30 in all — were uninjured, but the awning had been ripped off, the sign was mangled and water was leaking inside. She hoped to find foster homes for the animals.
“I could definitely tell that this storm was a little different,” she said. “It felt terrifying.”
Yesenia Guzmán worried whether she would get paid with the power still out at the restaurant where she works in the Houston suburb of Katy.
“We don’t really know what’s going to happen,” she said. DISASTER DECLARATION PAVES THE WAY FOR AID
Whitmire signed a disaster declaration, which paves the way for state and federal storm recovery assistance. President Joe Biden also issued a disaster declaration for seven counties in Texas, including Harris, over severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding since April 26. His action makes federal funding available to people affected by the storms.
Emergency officials in neighboring Montgomery County described the damage to transmission lines as “catastrophic.”
High-voltage transmission towers that were torn apart and downed power lines pose a twofold challenge for the utility company because the damage affected transmission and distribution systems, according to Alexandria von Meier, a power and energy expert who called that a rare thing. Damage to just the distribution system is more typical, von Meier said.
How quickly repairs are made will depend on a variety of factors, including the time it takes to assess the damage, equipment replacement, roadwork access issues and workforce availability. Centerpoint Energy deployed 1,000 employees on Friday and had requested 5,000 more line workers and vegetation professionals.
Neo. The Only. The One.
THE ONE
So did homie with the oxygen tank explode? 
TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?
I walk around a little edgy already
Some areas got the brunt of it.. business as usual where I'm at
The city and Houstonians have been looking out for folks affected
The city and Houstonians have been looking out for folks affected
