Congressman Brett Guthrie, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Bob Latta, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, announced a hearing titled “Winter Storm Fern Lessons: Supplying Reliable Power to Meet Peak Demand,” according to a March 11 statement.
The hearing aims to examine the performance of the U.S. power grid during Winter Storm Fern and discuss strategies for ensuring reliable electricity supply during periods of peak demand. The event is scheduled for March 17 at 10:00 AM ET in the Rayburn House Office Building and will be open to the public and press, with a live stream available online.
“As Winter Storm Fern swept across the country and energy needs were at their highest, it was baseload, dispatchable power sources like coal, nuclear power, and natural gas that kept the lights on for millions of American families,” Guthrie and Latta said. “As we look to expand our grid to meet the moment for the AI race and reshoring manufacturing, this hearing will provide an opportunity to examine lessons learned from the storm that will support the reliable supply of power to the grid, especially during peak demand.”
Michael Goggin, Executive Vice President of Grid Strategies LLC, provided written testimony highlighting several points about resource performance during Winter Storm Fern. According to Goggin’s testimony, “Renewable resources performed well during Winter Storm Fern, while fossil generation did not. In all recent extreme winter weather events gas accounted for the majority of generator outages, followed by coal. Natural gas prices spiked during Winter Storm Fern and other recent extreme cold events, costing consumers billions of dollars. A diverse generation mix increases resilience. Each resource type has distinct outage risks, so a diverse mix reduces the economic and reliability risk to ratepayers. Expanding transmission increases resilience and saves Americans money by tapping into diversity among regions in the timing of peak demand and generator outages.” Goggin also recommended letting market forces determine which resources enter or exit service without federal mandates or permitting obstacles.
The hearing notice states that questions regarding logistics can be directed to committee staff members Seth Ricketts or Ben Mullany via email.
More information about this hearing is available at the House Committee on Energy & Commerce website.
