22 votes

Starburst – Disturbances on the sun may have the potential to devastate our power grid and communication systems. When the next big storm arrives, will we be prepared for it?

Posted by ignorabimus
Tags: solar system, sun, weather.space, storms.solar, earth, infrastructure, utilities, mobile, preparation.disaster, author.kathryn schulz, source.the new yorker, long read, paywall
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/04/what-a-major-solar-storm-could-do-to-our-planet

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Title
What a Major Solar Storm Could Do to Our Planet
Authors
The New Yorker
Published
Feb 26 2024
Word count
8331 words

4 comments

  1. [3]
    XanIves
    Link
    I'm always curious when reading an article that discusses losing transformers as being the real danger, and it makes me wonder how useful having residential solar would be in that scenario....

    I'm always curious when reading an article that discusses losing transformers as being the real danger, and it makes me wonder how useful having residential solar would be in that scenario.

    Post-event, if you're looking at a lead time of months to replace large chunks of the grid, then being able to power your home and even possibly your vehicle seems insanely useful, not just to yourself but to communities in general. Clean water, heating, cooling, refrigeration, no paying for expensive gasoline during an outage that isn't being supplied anymore due to supply chain issues. I wonder how resistant the average setup would be during an event like this, and what sort of mitigation strategies you could take to harden your residence.

    6 votes
    1. [2]
      nukeman
      Link Parent
      I’ve heard (no sources, maybe there’s an EE here with more info) that generally, EMPs would cause the most damage to the power grid, due to long lines able to best carry induced currents. The...

      I’ve heard (no sources, maybe there’s an EE here with more info) that generally, EMPs would cause the most damage to the power grid, due to long lines able to best carry induced currents. The lines in a residential home are much shorter, and in cars they are already hardened to a degree due to the extreme environment automotive components operate in. So I believe that residential solar, with some hardening, could help. The bigger issue would be long-term supply chains. Hope you’ve got a big vegetable garden!

      3 votes
      1. GiantRubberRing
        Link Parent
        I'm in the industry and actually took part in a government discussion about this topic. Large grid transformers with specific core designs are most at risk from solar activity, but it also depends...

        I'm in the industry and actually took part in a government discussion about this topic. Large grid transformers with specific core designs are most at risk from solar activity, but it also depends on other factors like geographic position and geology.

        Unfortunately due to global supply chains post-covid, lead times for new transformers are currently in the 3-4 year range, at least in the UK where we have very limited domestic manufacturing. There are plans being developed to mitigate the impact of severe solar activity, but it's not something we can predict or test.

        Of course if the event is big enough then it will also damage electronics, and if that happens I'm not sure there's any level of mitigation that could prevent total system collapse.

        3 votes