[Milsurplus] Coronal Mass Ejection

[Peter Gottlieb]

Indeed.  Such gear usually has a long lifetime so there is no need for huge 
production capacity.

Free markets are better suited for a limited range of supply and demand and not 
surges like that.

Another hitch is that those huge transformers are very difficult to transport.

Perhaps microgrids might be a way to mitigate against this?  That way much will 
stay up and/or be faster to restore?

Does anyone really know the kind of surge/interference a CME would cause?  Is it 
a low frequency event which mostly disrupts things like the grid due to it being 
such a large antenna?


On 8/1/2014 9:47 AM, Gene Smar wrote:
> Gents:
>   
>       While I worked for a utility company in PA in the 70s and 80s, I was part of the group that specified and ordered medium and large power transformers (up to several hundred MVA) for our grid.  Irrespective of where they are made, these behemoths can take up to a year to manufacture.  In this doomsday scenario, imagine a hemisphere's worth of utilities (assuming only the sun-facing utilities will be impacted when the CME arrives) all piling on the few remaining manufacturers, wherever they are located, for orders for hundreds of these transformers.
>   
> BOTTOM LINE:  It won't be pretty for a long time.
>   
>   
> 73 de
> Gene Smar  AD3F
>   
>
>
>
> On 08/01/14, Peter Gottlieb wrote:
>
> Depends on size. Dynapower in Vermont and ABB down in (IIRC) Wisconsin still
> make them here. GE as well, but I don't remember where.
>
> Peter
>
>
> On 8/1/2014 5:59 AM, Richard wrote:
>> I don't believe any are made in the USA now, it's Japan, Korea, Poland, and
>> Turkey.
>>
>> Richard, AA1P
>>> Did see a flurry of interest several years ago in both magazine & newspapers.
>>> One of the things that caught my attention was how long it could take to
>>> recomplete the current (no pun intended) power grid due to the limited
>>> production of the so-called super transformers. Could be on the order of two
>>> decades in a worst-case scenario, if I recall correctly.
>>>
>>> Wayne
>>> WB4OGM
>>>
>>>
>>> -
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