Yeah, I saw that one - that article also perpetuated the misconception that Solar Flares will blow up electronics.
“But in 1989 a smaller flare wiped out Hydro Quebec’s grid, leaving many Canadians without power for an extended period. “
“extended period” that outage lasted 9 hours.
“I’ve read a number of analyses that claim major transformers are at risk from both a Carrington event as well as EMP attack.”
What you say is correct. They are vulnerable to both. I never said they weren’t vulnerable - I said a solar flare will not damage electronics.
However, we now have lots of warning when a solar flare is headed our way, unlike in 1989. We can react and respond like we have never been able to before. GIC mitigation must still be (and is being) pursued.
However, even a Carrington Event or greater is unlikely to completely destroy the grid as has been advocated on thread.
Here in Tampa a squirrel chewed through a power cable and left 600,000 people without water for two days.
Excuse me if I don’t have a lot of faith in the resiliency of our infrastructure.
Yep, but the electrical surge created by a flare will. Here is a good example. About 10 yrs. ago lightning struck a tree about 50 feet from my house. It was an intense enough strike, that even though it missed the house, it was enough surge to fry three appliances in my house. Repairmen told that the electronics were the culprit, not electrical. Not the exact same scenario, but very similar and with different scale.
And concerning your comments around the 1989 event. It was a small high lattitude event with local consequences, where there was enough surrounding support structure and resources to address quickly. Also, 1989 was a mere blip versus what was witnessed in 1859. Heck, Auroras were seen throughout the entire northern hemisphere, and some so bright, they could be used to read at night.
I know this is kind of wordy, but I fully disagree that electronics are not vulnerable due to a natural or man made EMP type event.