[CALV-ARES] What would happen if a massive solar storm hit the Earth

[Wa4prr]

Shawn, this is the best explanation I have seen for the solar effects seen by the power grid.  One guess which option our "national leaders" take...  73,

Ron Byzet / WA4PRR - Sent from my iPad

On Aug 28, 2015, at 12:12 PM, N3AE <n3ae at comcast.net> wrote:

> While not directly radio related, the interesting part about the effects on the power grid is that these detrimental effects are preventable.
> 
> What happens is that the solar storm causes differential voltages in the earth across wide geographical areas.  This creates currents that can flow in "grounded" conductors that span the distances between these areas (i.e. the power grid).
> 
> Our power grid uses very large transformers at the generation stations and sub stations to change voltage levels between the long-distance high- voltage transmission lines and the lower voltage feeders to our neighborhoods.   All of these transformers have one leg attached to ground.
> 
> The solar storm event causes DC currents to flow through these ground paths and thus through the transformer windings.   These DC currents (typically between 5 and 50 amps during the storm) are enough to saturate the transformer magnetics.   Once saturated, the normal AC magnetic field in the transformer expands outside the transformer core, causing very large induced AC currents to flow in the metal surrounding the transformer (frame, wiring, etc).  These currents are high enough to burn up the whole transformer.
> 
> These very large transformers are not easily made.  They typically have an 18 month lead time from order to delivery, and that's when everything is working in the industry, not after a catastrophic event when even the factories don't have power.  OBTW...I think many of the transformer factories are now off-shore.
> 
> So how do you prevent this disaster?
> 
> 1.  You temporarily shut down the power grid (stop generation) for the period of the solar event.  Possible since we have ground and space based sensors to know ahead of time when the solar charged particles will hit the earth.  
> 
> 2.  Equip these transformers with circuitry which opens the ground path when high DC ground currents are detected while still providing AC overload fault sensing and protection.  Such circuits exist but cost $$ to retrofit.
> 
> Any guesses if our national leadership would proactively take either of the two steps above, or do we have to have a catastrophe followed by "congressional investigations" under candle light before anything is done.
> 
> If anyone is interested in the details, I believe I still have a report or two (pdf) which I could forward.
> 
> Shawn
> N3AE
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From: "Eric Christensen" <eric at christensenplace.us>
> To: "ARES Calvert" <calv-ares at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 2015 11:05:52 AM
> Subject: [CALV-ARES] What would happen if a massive solar storm hit the Earth
> 
> I found this article[0] on to be very interesting.  I wonder what we could do 
> to make our radio stations more hardened against such storms.  Probably the 
> first thing would be to disconnect antennas when not using the radio.  Any 
> others?
> 
> [0]http://gizmodo.com/what-would-happen-if-a-massive-solar-storm-hit-the-eart-1724650105
> 
> 73,
> Eric WG3K
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