Original scientific paper

Space weather: Avoiding grid disruption and transformer impact from geomagnetic disturbances

Dom Corsi
Paul Griffin

Abstract

The effects of solar storms, a phenomenon that creates geomagnetic disturbances that impact the upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere and the electric grid, now must be addressed by power engineers. The terrestrial induced currents that result from these space weather events can possibly damage expensive large power transformers and lead to disrupted power supply. The key for staying resilient against such threats is to adopt best practices for transformer monitoring including thermal impact assessments. This article will address the thermal impact assessments in more detail and offer insight into what power companies and utilities need to comply with the new North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) standard TPL-007-1 designed to address the potential impact of geomagnetic disturbances on the power grid.

Keywords

solar storms; geomagnetic disturbances; space weather; grid resiliency; transformer

Hrčak ID:

202456

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/202456

Publication date:

8.7.2017.

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