Winter Storm Fern is wreaking havoc, from market chaos to mass outages.
The response: PJM is prepping for an all-time winter demand record on Tuesday. Over the weekend, DOE granted the grid operator blanket permission to fully engage all of its power sources—regardless of what regional pollution rules state. Ahead of the storm, Energy Secretary Chris Wright asked grid operators to be prepared to utilize up to 35 GW of backup generation.
The market impact: Real-time wholesale prices in Dominion’s Virginia “Data Center Alley” spiked to $1,800/MWh early Sunday, up from $200/MWh on Saturday morning.
As for customers? Nearly 900K were without power Sunday—north of 300K in Tennessee and 100K each in Mississippi, Texas, and Louisiana.