Today we have overload circuit breakers and fuses in the electrical system.
Most, if not all, modern semiconductors have built-in ESD HV protection circuitry on their inputs and outputs.
The old stuff will go poof, but the new stuff won’t be as vulnerable.....................
HOw about my 1960 John Deere tractor? Will I have to replace my points?
The main concern with an EMP burst from the sun are the grids and unprotected computer systems. Everything runs on digital computers. Theoretically analog computers would not be as vulnerable to an EMP. A modern cars computer exposed to an EMP would most likely fry. Military grade items are being built with some protections. The average household would lose power, electronics and communications. Of course that would take a massive burst, there have been a few large scale burst, but nothing on the zombie apocalypse scale that some doomsday types predict. That does not mean it could not happen. Just like an asteroid strike, you shouldn’t live your life worried everyday about it.
A DC voltage presents much more difficulty of arc suppression in atmosphere once ignited. Special safety device designs for DC systems incorporate magnetic snubbers and special gas mixtures to improve survival and function of the devices.
A DC voltage imposed upon AC transmission lines would be problematic for the transformer windings. The prior solar activity of 1859 created current flows through the Telegraph system and the Earth connection over large distances.
Nominally, the soil differential for voltage does not exhibit a wide discrepancy between separated points such as to interfere with the grid electrical transmission. Under the influence of magnetic disturbances of solar origin, much greater voltage is induced in the soill which drives greater Telluric currents.
Today we have overload circuit breakers and fuses in the electrical system.
—
except that the power generating stations will go down as their transformers melt.