A powerful cold front (or polar vortex) developed in the United States and Canada beginning December 21. After strengthening over the Northern Plains, it descended and covered much of the eastern two-thirds of the United States from December 23 to December 25, bringing dangerous cold, high winds, and blizzard conditions to many areas.
Early indications suggest that the combination of unexpectedly high demand and significant generation failures to perform as expected during this period pushed many regions into emergency operations. Many regions declared grid reliability emergencies, and load-shedding occurred in Tennessee and the Carolinas.
In the following infographic, as a first-order analysis, we examine selected regions’ fuel mixes during the event.
