On Christmas Eve, half a million North Carolinians were impacted by rolling blackouts during an extreme cold snap. It brought electric reliability to the forefront of public thought once again. Duke Energy said the cause of the blackouts was a combination of reliance on unavailable purchased power from neighboring utilities and under-performance from key energy resources: two coal plants and a natural gas one. The plants were impacted by weather, causing components to freeze and drastically reduce energy production. Their backup, generators in neighboring utilities, had no power to spare since they experienced the same cold snap.

Twenty-seven miles from Virginia Beach, two turbines gently spin in the coastal breeze, generating enough electricity to power 7,500 homes. Too far from shore to be seen, these turbines represent a major step in the United States’ energy transition. Hundreds of turbines spanning dozens of projects along the Atlantic Coast will join these towers soon, including Avangrid Renewables’ Kitty Hawk North Wind Project.