What is it about?
This paper addresses whether space weather challenged the reliability of the electric power system in England and Wales during part of the declining phase of Solar Cycle 23. Specifically, the paper examines the relationship between measures of space weather and a metric of challenged electric power reliability known as the net imbalance volume (NIV). Measured in megawatt hours (MWh), NIV represents the sum of all energy deployments initiated by the system operator to balance the electric power system in terms of supply vs demand. These deployments are needed to prevent the electric power system from crashing. The analysis indicates that space weather had a demonstrable effect on the required energy deployments over the sample period. Some of the balancing deployments attributed to space weather are large. A counterfactual analysis indicates that the required deployments could have been very very large had a space weather storm occurred when the vulnerability of the electric power system was higher.
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Why is it important?
It has been asserted that the challenge posed by space weather to the power grid is very remote. The analysis of this paper indicates otherwise. This is an important issue given that the societal costs of blackouts are believed to be very large.
Perspectives
The last major electricity blackout attributed to space weather occurred in 1989. This paper indicates that space weather nevertheless represented a challenge to power system reliability in the more recent past.
Kevin Forbes
Catholic University of America
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Challenge Posed by Geomagnetic Activity to Electric Power Reliability: Evidence From England and Wales, Space Weather, October 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/2017sw001668.
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