Watch out for the sun's smile! Halloween blackout may strike!

author: SUNPRO POWER Marketing

2022-10-31

Last week NASA photographed a "smiling face of the sun". Because the photo is very cute, it quickly became a hot topic on Twitter. But the smile of the sun indicates a solar storm, which may lead to geomagnetic storms attacking the earth. At that time, a major power outage may occur. Due to the arrival of Halloween, the "Halloween solar storm" in 2003 may reappear. The sun's mischief will reflect what is called "trick".

"Smile" of paralyzed electronic equipment

According to NPR, the British Guardian and other media, on October 26, NASA's satellite captured a photo, which looked like the sun was "smiling". But behind the "smile" may indicate a solar storm, which may lead to geomagnetic storms attacking the earth.

Sorry for taking the wrong one, not the antenna baby, but this one ↓

“Sun’s smiling face” by NASA

Solar storms are solar magnetic storms. This is a common phenomenon of solar activity, referring to the period when solar surface activity began to be active. Especially during the sunspot maximum period, the number of flares on the sun's surface will also increase, and the flares will emit X-ray, ultraviolet, visible light and high-energy proton and electron beams. During a magnetic storm, the satellite cannot detect the earth for a short time, and all electronic equipment on the earth will be affected.

Therefore, this phenomenon can cause serious damage. Astronomers predict that this wind of charged particles will collide with the Earth's magnetic field sometime after October 29, possibly triggering a small geomagnetic storm. Even the weakest geomagnetic storm - G1 level - may disrupt the operation of satellites in orbit and bring small-scale power grid fluctuations to the earth.

Grid Assassin - Solar Storm

As Halloween is approaching this year, it is not difficult to associate with the famous "Halloween solar storm" in 2003. When the solar storm occurred in 2003, Sweden's power system was severely damaged, causing 50,000 people to be forced to cut off power; there are 46 satellites that have reported anomalies, worldwide communications have been disrupted, mobile phones have lost signals, and Internet access is unavailable.

The "Halloween solar storm" in 2003 and the auroras on the earth affected by it

(Source: NASA)

In history, there have been many times that the power grid has been paralyzed due to solar storms. The representative is the power grid in Quebec, Canada, in 1989. The solar storm caused a large-scale power outage accident in the region. The number of directly affected residents reached 6 million, and the power outage lasted for 9 hours, resulting in economic losses of tens of millions of dollars.

Fortunately, electronic equipment in those years was not as popular as it is today, so the degree of impact is still controllable, but if it is placed today, it may cause great trouble.

Therefore, in recent years, power grids in various countries have been strengthening grid defense measures to ensure that the risk of power failure is reduced. However, compared with other types of power stations, the impact of solar storms on photovoltaic power stations is relatively small, and there are even opportunities to use energy to generate electricity. It is a good supplement when the power generation efficiency is poor in winter.

Solar storm has photovoltaic effect conditions

When solar storms occur, the sun will release a large number of charged particle streams into space, thus forming high-speed particle streams. Theoretically, using these charged particles to generate electricity, the conversion efficiency will be much higher than ordinary photovoltaic power generation. Because of the huge energy, in 2012, there was a research team in the United States that tried to use it to generate photovoltaic power. Because the atmosphere cuts down the solar wind particles, the best way to use this energy in theory is to build a receiving power station in space.

The "Dyson Harrop" satellite, developed by the Department of Physics of Washington State University, can use solar storms to generate photovoltaic power. The satellite has a long metal coil facing the sun. The coil is charged, which can generate a cylindrical magnetic field. The charged particles in the storm will be captured by the magnetic field generated by the coil. The trapped electrons are introduced into a spherical metal collector with a diameter of 2 meters, in which electric energy is generated. The satellite also has a circular solar panel with a diameter of 10 meters. The total power generated can reach 1.7 million watts, which can provide daily power for about 1000 households. So, If we can make good use of solar storms, it will make a qualitative leap in photovoltaic power generation technology.

The "Dyson Harrop" satellite envisioned by the Washington State University team

However, it is a pity that the space power transmission system is still being developed and improved. In the face of solar storms, modern society can only cope with natural disasters, and the grid connected photovoltaic power stations on the surface also need to be prevented.

Effective means to prevent GIC impact

The grid connected photovoltaic system will be affected by the grid because it needs to transmit power to the grid. The geomagnetic induced currents (GIC) caused by the solar wind will cause the high-voltage transformer of the power grid to fail or suffer permanent damage, which will lead to the paralysis of the entire power grid. In serious cases, it will also cause the current reverse flow to burn out other equipment.

To ensure rapid maintenance of grid connected photovoltaic power plants, the grid connected inverter used should be able to quickly disconnect from the grid to prevent burning out the photovoltaic system. For this reason, it is necessary to have an anti-reverse current inverter that can quickly disconnect the power grid, and it is better to be a safer AC three-phase equipment. We recommend using this intelligent inverter "SP12KH3", which can be switched between grid connection and off grid.

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According to scientific statistics, about every 25 years, there will be a powerful solar storm that will cause serious damage to electronic equipment on the earth. In this cycle, some high-quality photovoltaic power plants may encounter one or two challenges.

In the grid connected state, the power system will form a systematic challenge. In the face of natural phenomena, the only thing we can do is to minimize the risk of damage, which is also an inevitable requirement of the power system. If you are interested in photovoltaic products, you can contact us for more information and products