Zeus: Grid stocks hold gains despite ice storms, record cold (and falling lava rocks)

Electricity infrastructure becomes the new investment priority

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(David Callaway is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Callaway Climate Insights. He is the former president of the World Editors Forum, Editor-in-Chief of USA Today and MarketWatch, and CEO of TheStreet Inc. His climate columns have appeared in USA Today and The Independent. He is also the author of a debut novel called Unregulated Militia, about drone warfare in the United States).

NEW YORK CITY (Callaway Climate Insights) — Like 150 million other people this past weekend, I sat Sunday out, watching football with my mom at her home in Greenwich, Conn. as 16 inches of snow pounded down all day and plotting ways to get to warmth (and a television with the games) should the power suddenly go out.

This California resident even tried his hand at shoveling snow for the first time in more than a quarter century, and only minutes after finishing was greeted with ads on my phone for robotic, electric shovels. Then came the cold — and ice.

The past few days have been the real test of the nation’s East Coast and Texas electric grids as the snow iced up power lines and cables and everything else outside. So far, the grids have held steady, though they are operating under high strain.