Solar storms can damage electrical systems. Do it on large enough scale, and from a practical POV, the manufacturing
capacity to replace all that stuff just isn't there any more.
I didn't like the part where they revealed that the destruction of only six points would 'down' the electrical power of the entire US.
Impossible? Why?Once again the mind of the average layman thinks that things are stale, stagnant and unable to 'adapt' to the circumstances presented; components of a system (call it 'the grid' in laymans's terms if you wish) today are "islanded", disconnected inadvance/PRIOR to the expected influence of an incoming geomagnetic storm.Solar storms can damage electrical systems. Do it on large enough scale, and from a practical POV, the manufacturing capacity to replace all that stuff just isn't there any more.
This prevents the SLOW moving magnetic field changes from inducing DC currents in lines that in turn cause transformer "BH" curve shift, a shift that can cause a transformer to "saturate" on a portion of the incoming AC waveform and is the main source of potential (note I said potential) damage; smaller 'islanded' systems are not affected the same way a long tie-line is between distant points (longer run, more induced current).
Excerpted from: https://www.npcc.org/publicFiles/documents/seasonalNew/NPCC_Reliability_Assessment_for_Summer_2004.pdf
Geomagnetically Induced Currents (GICs)Past experiences have shown the serious effect that geomagnetic disturbances can have on the NPCC bulk power system.
Quasi-DC currents induced in power lines flow to ground through transformer neutral connections. This can result in saturation of the transformer core leading to a variety of problems, including increased heating that has resulted in transformer failures. In addition, the harmonics generated in the transformer, as a result of the saturation, may produce unanticipated relay operations, such as sudden tripping of transmission lines or shunt capacitors.
GICs are produced by the magnetic field variations that occur when a mass of electrically charged particles from a solar coronal mass ejection impacts the earth?s magnetic field. Because of the low frequency compared to the AC frequency, the geomagnetically induced currents appear to a transformer as a slowly varying DC current.
GIC flowing through the transformer winding produces extra magnetization, during the half-cycles when the AC magnetization is in the same direction this effect can saturate the core of the transformer. This also results in severe distortion of the AC waveform with increased harmonic levels that can cause incorrect operation of relays and other equipment on the system and may lead to problems ranging from trip-outs of individual lines, transformers or shunt capacitors to collapse of the whole system.
GIC activity correlates to 11-year sunspot cycles. We are presently in Cycle 23, which began in 1996 and is predicted to end about January 2007. During the portion of the solar cycle that has greater sunspot activity, there is a higher probability of GICs occurring, which could impact the NPCC system.
Observations of sunspot activity only provide insights as to the timing of the release of energy; it is the solar winds that ultimately determine the intensity and duration of a geomagnetic storm and those areas of the earth that will be ultimately affected. A satellite positioned between the earth and the sun is capable of determining the intensity of the storm. The timing between when this satellite senses the magnitude of the storm and when the effects are noted on the earth is less than 1 hour.