ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – Rochester Public Utilities (RPU) issued energy conservation alerts this weekend as Winter Storm Fern brought extreme cold temperatures and significant power outages across the United States.

RPU relayed the peak energy alert from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) which manages the power grid for 15 states and a province of Canada.

“What we experienced over the weekend was an energy emergency alert, or an EEA,” RPU General Manager Tim McCollough said.

According to MISO, demand during the storm peaked around 105 gigawatts — equivalent to the power output of more than 210 Hoover Dams or 136.5 million horses.

“It was a rare event. The last time that we’ve seen a grid event of this scale, I think we have to rewind almost to February of 2021, Winter Storm Uri,” McCollough said.

As demand surged, available energy supplies dropped, prompting MISO to ask utilities to produce more power for the grid.

“Many utilities didn’t have natural gas available. We switched over to oil, and we’re running our backup generation on oil [and] diesel fuel,” McCullough said. “Wind was very low throughout the whole weekend, it was actually very calm, and in the evening, solar is not producing.”

Ward One City Council member Patrick Keane, the council representative on RPU’s board, said the utility ran fuel oil generation for the first time for 49 hours straight.

“We ran a fuel oil method of generating electricity. And for the first time ever, it ran for about 49 hours, two days straight,” Keane said.

Keane said if demand had climbed any higher, the situation could have looked much worse.

“We might have gotten caught up in a thing just like they got caught up in Texas back in 2021, where they had the rolling brownouts or couldn’t generate enough electricity for what the demand was,” Keane said.

As Rochester works toward 100% net renewable energy by 2030, questions remain about RPU’s reliability during future weather events.

Keane and McCollough appeared confident that RPU can sustain readability during the transition to higher capacities of less reliable forms.

“I am [confident]. These aren’t hedge fund managers who are taking bets,” Keane said. “These are people who know the repercussions of ‘bad bets.’”

“We still plan on maintaining reliable capacity because that’s our obligation as utilities. It’s our first obligation to keep the lights on and support the community. It’s the underpinning of our society,” McCollough said.

McCollough reassured that even with 100% net renewable energy n 2030, RPU will continue to keep its compacity of reliable energy for future emergencies.

“It doesn’t mean no natural gas. It doesn’t mean no fuel oil. What it does mean, is that we net out to net renewable electricity. So, there will be times where we overproduce with renewables, and there will be times we rely on our peaking generation that is still fossil fuel based and still is there. It’ll just run 10 to 20% of the time to fill in the gaps between wind and solar,” McCollough said.

While RPU weathered the storm, MISOs southern region was hit the hardest. More than 200,000 people across Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi are still without power.

Find stories like this and more, in our apps.

Copyright 2026 KTTC. All rights reserved.