The Energy Department has granted PJM Interconnection, the country’s largest electric grid operator, emergency permission to run all its power generation at full tilt as Winter Storm Fern threatens the power supply across the 13-state region stretching from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic states.
The emergency 202c order under the Federal Power Act exempts the regional grid operator from pollution regulations and comes as utilities and regional grid operators across the United States move to ensure they can meet the massive surge in electricity demand from the extreme snowfall, freezing rain and subzero temperatures that could trigger blackouts and risk loss of life. The concern will grow in the coming days as a wide swath of the country faces a prolonged cold spell that could strain heating and electricity resources.
DOE also tapped data centers and other large customers within Texas’ grid to bring their backup on-site power onto the public grid, a move that allowed those generators to skirt pollution rules.
“As Winter Storm Fern brings extreme cold and dangerous conditions to the Mid-Atlantic, maintaining affordable, reliable, and secure power in the PJM region is non-negotiable,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.
All told, 200 million people face some mix of sleet, snow, ice and frigid temperatures sweeping the nation which, taken together, makes for a “deadly combination,” AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said in a Sunday note.
Power loss is the main threat to life over the coming days — and pressure on the power grid is mounting. The storm has added more complexity for utilities and operators that have struggled to meet rising demand fueled by the influx of data centers, artificial intelligence and other large customers. That all has narrowed slack in the system, bringing electric reliability concerns to the forefront.
Spot market natural gas prices spiked more than 80 percent in three days, which consulting firm WoodMackenzie said was the largest such Henry Hub increase in history. Supplies could get trapped if gas infrastructure in the Gulf Coast, which is unaccustomed to single-digit temperatures, fails to perform. Such a failure of natural gas infrastructure occurred during Winter Storm Uri in 2021 that killed 246 people in Texas.
The concerns showed up in markets on Sunday. Real time electricity costs in PJM and MISO, which covers the Midwest to the Gulf Coast, and operators overseeing New England and New York’s grid soared as demand pushed generation to the limit. Power demand in New England and New York outstripped forecasts by more than 3 percent as of 10:30 a.m. MISO demand was underneath its forecasted peak.
MISO issued an alert Saturday noting it was facing an energy storage problem, experiencing “unplanned generator outages” and was in need of generation. MISO lifted the emergency alert a couple of hours later, but it remains on standby for an emergency entailing maximum generation. As of Sunday morning, MISO’s current demand stands at around 92,000 MW, with peak demand forecasted to reach over 103,000 MW.
Current conditions reflect what the North American Electric Reliability Corp. determined in its latest winter reliability assessment: Several parts of the U.S. do not have sufficient energy supplies to meet hikes in demand during an extreme winter.
In its application to DOE requesting the emergency order, PJM said it has already experienced outages “trending up to 20,000 MW,” adding that “there are many other unknowns that could exacerbate already tightening system conditions.”
PJM has been the subject of scrutiny for rising prices as demand outstrips power supply. The Trump administration has blamed the Biden administration and state policies that they contend incentivized solar and wind with artificially low prices that pushed gas, nuclear and coal power plants off the grid. They have warned the dynamic leaves customers in jeopardy of power outages by failing to have enough readily available power to meet demand spikes, such as during searing heatwaves or deep winter freezes.
On Sunday, those gas, coal and nuclear resources supplied an overwhelming majority of electricity to the nation’s largest customer base. Gas met more than 39 percent of PJM’s load, while nuclear supplied 26 percent and coal nearly 23 percent. Wind fed just shy of 5 percent, while solar clocked in under 0.5 percent.
“The claim that [Virginia] or any PJM state can run a modern grid without dispatchable gen is reckless. Facts are stubborn things,” former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Mark Christie posted on X.
Utilities spent the last week shoring up infrastructure by reinforcing wires and cutting tree branches to prevent major disruptions.
The Edison Electric Institute, a trade association representing investor-owned utilities, said companies marshaled 63,000 workers from 43 states and the District of Columbia to sites in the storm’s path. EEI spokesperson Brian Reil said that was comparable to the personnel deployed to the theater of Hurricane Helene, the 2024 storm that inflicted $78.7 billion worth of damage across North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia.
Ice is Fern’s key threat. Even a quarter-inch of ice layers tree branches with exponentially more weight, raising the chances of limbs breaking and damaging wires. Half an inch can snap electrical wires. Beyond that, treacherous ice can prevent or delay response teams from accessing compromised infrastructuring and prolong recovery time.
“We’re expecting a very serious situation if the worst comes with this storm,” Duke Energy spokesperson Riley Cook said, noting the utility had dispatched 18,000 employees to 22 critical sites. “We could be seeing power lines come down or tree limbs fall on our power lines, and we have to get those up.”
Isa Dominguez contributed to this report.
