Google says we can have 1-4 days of warning for this kind of thing. Is there any approach to circuit breaking that can help appliances against such an event?
Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings
11–20 of 163 posts
Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree. A large solar storm is unlikely to damage many transformers. Transformers have low impedance, yet solar storms have the biggest impact on high impedance systems (like copper telephone cables, especially when 'on hook'). The only time a power network is high impedance is when it isn't connected (ie. when part of the power network is switched off). Trivial operational changes could be made to ensure that of…
Even a Carrington-level event, which refers to a solar coronal mass ejection (CME) observed in 1859, is indeed a concern for modern electrical infrastructure. During such an event, geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) could flow through electrical grids, potentially overheating transformers and causing them to fail. These GICs are particularly harmful to transformers because they can lead to half-cycle saturation,…
> The key question remains: do the potential catastrophic consequences justify the financial and logistical costs of maintaining a transformer reserve?
isn't this something that can be trivially answered with game theory? you just need the cost and the probability.
Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings
#13>A similar solar storm today would be catastrophic for modern technological society—potentially wiping out telecommunications and satellite systems, causing massive electricity grid blackouts, and costing us billions of pounds. I wonder if any country has a disaster recovery plan for this kind on event.
FEMA's got you covered: https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/fema_incide...
That's not the disaster recovery plan itself, it's FEMA instructing a bunch of agencies and departments to make their own. Ordered by Executive Order 13744 signed by President Obama in 2016.
Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings
#14>A similar solar storm today would be catastrophic for modern technological society—potentially wiping out telecommunications and satellite systems, causing massive electricity grid blackouts, and costing us billions of pounds. I wonder if any country has a disaster recovery plan for this kind on event.
Being properly prepared for a once-in-15k-years storm would likely require such a cost over such a long time for the expected benefit that it's not worth it. Hardening infrastructure against extremely rare disasters likely means less infrastructure, and probably fewer social programs.
Sometimes the objective rational choice is to do nothing for the mega-disasters and instead just prepare/harden for once-a-century or once-a-millennium event.
Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings
#15Google says we can have 1-4 days of warning for this kind of thing. Is there any approach to circuit breaking that can help appliances against such an event?
Make sure ones that are metal boxes are grounded. Put all other inside metal box and ground it
Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings
#16The US needs to fund the Strategic Transformer Reserve! DOE estimated the cost would be $500m in 2017, but it would be a bargain at 4x the price. https://www.energy.gov/ceser/articles/strategic-transformer-...
I disagree. A large solar storm is unlikely to damage many transformers. Transformers have low impedance, yet solar storms have the biggest impact on high impedance systems (like copper telephone cables, especially when 'on hook'). The only time a power network is high impedance is when it isn't connected (ie. when part of the power network is switched off). Trivial operational changes could be made to ensure that of…
The 1989 solar storm did cause damage to some Quebec transformers:
https://hackaday.com/2017/04/10/lights-out-in-quebec-the-198...
Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings
#17>A similar solar storm today would be catastrophic for modern technological society—potentially wiping out telecommunications and satellite systems, causing massive electricity grid blackouts, and costing us billions of pounds. I wonder if any country has a disaster recovery plan for this kind on event.
We could always fall back to running the internet with RFC1149 https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1149
Some hope on Colapse OS [1] perhaps?
Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree. A large solar storm is unlikely to damage many transformers. Transformers have low impedance, yet solar storms have the biggest impact on high impedance systems (like copper telephone cables, especially when 'on hook'). The only time a power network is high impedance is when it isn't connected (ie. when part of the power network is switched off). Trivial operational changes could be made to ensure that of…
Even a Carrington-level event, which refers to a solar coronal mass ejection (CME) observed in 1859, is indeed a concern for modern electrical infrastructure. During such an event, geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) could flow through electrical grids, potentially overheating transformers and causing them to fail. These GICs are particularly harmful to transformers because they can lead to half-cycle saturation,…
[deleted]
Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings
#19Google says we can have 1-4 days of warning for this kind of thing. Is there any approach to circuit breaking that can help appliances against such an event?
[deleted]
Re: Researchers identify largest ever solar storm in 14k-year-old tree rings
#20Google says we can have 1-4 days of warning for this kind of thing. Is there any approach to circuit breaking that can help appliances against such an event?
Make sure ones that are metal boxes are grounded. Put all other inside metal box and ground it
Tangent but the concept of "grounding" is so strange, especially for residential electrical systems. It's literally just a metal stake in the ground