Fossil fuels have struggled in the cold weather.

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Recent winter storms exposed significant vulnerabilities in fossil fuel power plants, with over 20 gigawatts of unplanned outages in the PJM grid primarily from natural gas and coal facilities. Cold weather causes mechanical failures and fuel supply issues in these plants. Texas improved grid resilience after 2021 failures through weatherization and battery storage additions. Energy storage and offshore wind could help eastern grids handle future extreme weather without resorting to emergency measures that bypass emissions regulations.

How the grid can ride out winter storms