How Green Energy Failed America During Storm Fern

With America’s power grid stressed by a historic winter storm, expensive “green” energy sources like wind and solar proved unreliable.

A new report on power use over the days of Winter Storm Fern, which brought both massive snow accumulation and damaging waves of ice, found that traditional power sources like natural gas, coal, and nuclear provided 80% of U.S. electricity during the storm’s most destructive days. Wind, by contrast, contributed single-digit percentages, and solar was largely unattainable during the coldest and darkest hours.

Data from some 500,000 federal electricity records, analyzed by nonprofit Power the Future, show the states that most heavily rely on renewable energy faced the greatest vulnerabilities and the highest prices during Storm Fern.

“Electricity must be affordable. It must be reliable. And before we talk about all-of-the-above, it, above all, must be there when people need it,” the report states. “Winter Storm Fern made clear that energy policy rooted in reality beats climate ideology every time.”

The analysis concerning Storm Fern comes on the heels of President Donald Trump criticizing wind energy during a speech at the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos. Additionally, last month, the administration paused leases for five large offshore wind projects on the East Coast.

Notably, perpetually proven-wrong climate alarmist Al Gore called Trump “insane” for canceling the wind projects.

Power the Future’s analysis was confirmed by others, which similarly found use of renewables dwindling towards zero during the coldest days.

Minimizing emissions is important and should be one of the goals of the energy system. And yet, we have to be honest about where wind+solar+batteries are today on a very cold day in the northeast.
Everything below the red line is conventional generation.
via @grid_status pic.twitter.com/xm5GcKaqpb

— John Arnold (@johnarnold) January 26, 2026

Many far-left politicians have stated goals of moving to full reliance on renewables, which would likely mean power would be nonexistent when it’s needed most.

Conservative commentator Gabriella Hoffman put it bluntly: “Winter Storm Fern reminds us that net-zero is unsustainable.”

“An energy system must be undergirded by reliable, abundant, dispatchable power – not weather-dependent wind, solar, batteries that are costly AND ultimately fail to deliver substantial emissions reductions,” she said.

To boot, Americans are spending more money on these “green” power sources. For example, in states like California, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey — where fossil fuels have been replaced the fastest — energy prices have risen significantly.

Power the Future released the following datapoints in August:

• California – Fossil generation down 57 million MWh/year since 2010; prices up 8.3¢/kWh.
• Massachusetts – Fossil generation down 74%; prices up 6.4¢/kWh.
• New York – Closure of Indian Point nuclear plant drove downstate prices higher and increased reliance on imports.
• New Jersey – Eagle Point refinery mothballed despite rising demand.

In New York, for example, residents pay roughly 50-60% more than the national average. This is connected to a state climate law that mandates 70% of electricity come from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% carbon-free by 2040.

Power the Future, though, says that these comments by Trump, and actions from the administration, were proven right during Storm Fern.

Related: ‘Whatever Happened To Global Warming?’: Trump Trolls Climate Alarmists As U.S. Braces For Winter Storm