T&D World Live Podcast: What Winter Storm Fern Revealed About Grid Reliability
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In this episode of the T&D World Live podcast, we speak with Michael Goggin, executive vice president of Grid Strategies, about the reliability lessons emerging from Winter Storm Fern and what the event revealed about the evolving U.S. power system.
The discussion examines how the late-January cold wave affected major grid regions including Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), Southwest Power Pool (SPP), PJM Interconnection and ERCOT, while avoiding the widespread rolling blackouts seen during past events like Winter Storm Uri and Winter Storm Elliott.
Goggin breaks down the performance of different generation resources during the storm, arguing that wind, solar and battery storage played a significant role in maintaining reliability while many fossil fuel units — particularly gas and coal facilities — experienced outages, fuel supply constraints and weather-related operational failures. The conversation also explores the political debate surrounding grid reliability and renewable energy, with Goggin emphasizing the importance of a diversified generation mix rather than reliance on any single resource type.
The episode takes a deep dive into the role of interregional transmission, highlighting how stronger transmission ties between regions could reduce congestion, lower electricity costs and improve resilience during extreme weather events. Goggin discusses the economic and operational value of moving electricity across regions during emergencies and explains how transmission bottlenecks contributed to major price disparities during Winter Storm Fern.
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About the Author
Christina Marsh
Senior Editor
Christina Marsh is senior editor of T&D World at Endeavor Business Media (EBM), responsible for managing, editing, and contributing to the print issue production in addition to e-newsletters and digital content including podcasts. Previously, Christina was editor of Airport Business at EBM where she was responsible for contributing editorial support for the magazine, writing and compiling e-newsletters as well as contributing to digital content including producing video and podcasts. Before working with EBM, Christina was a multimedia journalist and podcast producer at The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). She graduated with a B.S. in journalism from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.