The possibility of rolling blackouts — which allegedly neared fruition across Pennsylvania at Christmastime — could be connected to using less reliable and “green” forms of energy such as solar and wind power, according to a state lawmaker.

Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, told the Sun-Gazette editorial board this week of the real potential risk of the rolling blackouts, the kind potentially occurring at PJM in Valley Forge.

“Our power grid is controlled by PJM,” said Yaw, who is chair of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

The operator of the mid-Atlantic electricity grid for 65 million people called for folks to conserve electricity this past Christmas morning, warning of rolling blackouts because power plants were having difficulty operating in the freezing cold.

PJM Interconnection issued the emergency call for conservation system wide across its 13-state footprint, asking electricity customers to set thermostats lower than usual, if health permits; postpone use of major electric appliances such as stoves, dishwashers and clothes dryers; and turn off non-essential electric lights, equipment and appliances.

In all, 25,000 power outages were reported during that freeze.

Much of January and February have remained free of polar vortexes or Arctic air masses hanging around or dropping in.

Yaw said he spoke to PJM about this issue.

“Their comment was ‘they deal with the legislature or the respective states,'” Yaw said. “Basically, we deal them the cards based on our policies,” he said.

That means if the policy is to promote and favor solar or wind power, PJM must figure out a way to deal with it.

Solar power, meanwhile, is weather-dependent, Yaw claimed.

“It is the same way with wind,” he added in warning to those who want to go completely green without continuous use of fossil fuel-powered energy.

“It’s not a continuous power supply,” Yaw said. “It is not something you can bring up any time of the day or night.”

The reality is that PJM must juggle “generation versus distribution,” he said.

The conundrum becomes whether legislators are promoting solar and wind and cutting out coal and some of the older gas types of energy production. Those latter forms of energy can be put online at any time, including in the middle of the night when power is needed, he noted.

“Where are you going to get it?” Yaw said of the coal and gas power if it is phased out.

“You’ve told us you’re going to favor solar . . . well, the sun does not shine at night. What do we do?” Yaw asked.

That is what concerns Yaw about what is known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative or (REGGI).

“It really causes, it has caused and continues to cause problems in Pennsylvania in that it has already triggered some,” he said. The decommissioning of some coal-fired power plants, for example, were what was known as the ‘base load,'” he said.

“They were the ones that you could call on in the middle of the night,” Yaw said. “It did not matter if it was raining or snow or whatever it was doing. You could say, OK, we need you to come online now.”