The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold a day-long technical conference April 1 to discuss operational and market issues raised by this winter’s extreme cold, which exposed vulnerabilities in the grid’s increasing reliance on natural-gas fired generation.

Acting FERC Chair Cheryl LaFleur announced the conference last week, saying it would focus in part on the experience in PJM, which last month called on demand response, a voltage reduction and voluntary appeals for conservation to avoid rolling blackouts in the face of record demand and large numbers of generator outages. (See Pony Up! Members Express Anger over High Prices, Uplift Allocation.)

LaFleur said an agenda for the conference has not yet been completed.