Numerous studies by accredited groups, such as the Congressional Electromagnetic Pulse Commission, the National Academy of Sciences, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have concluded that solar storms and resulting geomagnetic disturbance are a critical threat to the reliability of electric grids. The recent report from the U.S. National Intelligence Council, “Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds,” presented solar geomagnetic storms as one of eight “black swan” events that could change the future course of human history.
Solar storms effecting power grids are not merely a hypothetical scenario. A moderate solar storm hit Quebec, Canada in March 1989, causing a province-wide blackout. Despite the widespread damage, in the twenty-three intervening years, the electric utility industry has not established reliability standards to protect against solar storms.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR), referred to as FERC Docket RM12-22, which would require a reliability standard to address the impact of geomagnetic disturbances (GMD) on the reliable operation of the Bulk-Power System.
What’s your take on the FERC’s recently released NOPR? What should a reliability standard for solar storms look like?
The FERC is currently accepting comments on the NOPR until December 24th, 2012, so be sure to post your comments below soon. A non-technical summary outlining the need for protection against solar storms can be found here. Other detailed background material for policymakers can be found by searching under the previous FERC Docket “AD12-13.”
Due to the nature of our infrastructure, most of the protection and controling is done remotely over telecommunication circuits both TDM and IP based. This being the case it would… Read more »
Protection of long-lead time items such as transformers and generators will certainly take front stage in this discussion since the time to replace these elements are measured in years and… Read more »
The NRC decided long term grid outage is likely enough to justify ruling on GMD threats to the grid: On December 18, the Federal Register reported the Nuclear Regulatory Commission… Read more »
Attached is the email I sent to the FERC contacts with my response for the Reliability Standards for Geomagnetic Disturbances Docket No. RM12-22-000, Geomagnetic Storm Proposed Rulemaking. Unfortunately, I was… Read more »
It is encouraging that both the NRC and FERC have taken positions that geomagnetic disturbance is a serious issue for grid reliability that needs further regulatory consideration. However, some electric… Read more »
[…] and GMD’s, such as major solar flares and storms, have the potential to critically disrupt or destroy the electric grid. In March 1989, a moderate solar storm hit Quebec,… Read more »