Protecting Power Grids from Space Weather

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https://eos.org/research-spotlights/protecting-power-grids-from-space-weather

By Rachel Fritts, Eos/AGU. 

Excerpt: Activity from the Sun, such as solar flares, can cause fluctuations in Earth’s geomagnetic field that send electrical currents flowing through power grids. These geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) can cause problems ranging from temporary voltage instability to widespread blackouts to reduced life spans for transformers. It is therefore important to develop effective mitigation strategies that protect against GIC-induced power disruptions while maintaining power to consumers. Suggested solutions have included installing equipment such as capacitors to block GICs and making changes to network configurations. Mac Manus et al. worked with the energy company Transpower New Zealand Ltd. to test four mitigation strategies that could be used throughout the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The team did this by ...modeling potential mitigation responses. ...Working with Transpower, the researchers found that the mitigation strategy that best balanced effectiveness and practicality reduced the effects of GICs by 16% with a targeted disconnection of just 24 lines. Transpower has adopted this as the new operational procedure to manage space weather events. ...the group determined that installing capacitor blocking devices on 14 specific transformers could reduce GICs by another 16%. ... (Space Weather, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023SW003533, 2023)

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