As Winter Storm Fern swept across the United States in late January 2026, bringing ice, snow and freezing temperatures, it left more than a million people without power, mostly in the Southeast.
Scrambling to meet higher than average demand, PJM, the nonprofit company that operates the grid serving much of the mid-Atlantic U.S., asked for federal permission to generate more power, even if it caused high levels of air pollution from burning relatively dirty fuels.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright agreed and took another step, too. He authorized PJM and ERCOT — the company that manages the Texas power grid — as well as Duke Energy, a major electricity supplier in the Southeast, to tell data centers and other large power-consuming businesses to turn on their backup generators.
Assistant Professor of Human Geography Nikki Luke and her co-researcher, Conor Harrison of the University of South Carolina, are scholars of the electricity industry who live and work in the Southeast. In the wake of Winter Storm Fern, they see opportunities to power data centers with less pollution while helping communities prepare for, get through and recover from winter storms. Read more at The Conversation.
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