Recently, the film "Wandering Earth" has occupied everyone's vision. In addition to the special effects, big screen, and 3D stereo painting effects, the film also pays attention to the electric line: this field with the earth is actually originated in 2026. The "global power accident" that broke out!

Therefore, many people ask: Does the abnormal fluctuation caused by the solar storm really bring so much damage to the earth grid? Is this a sci-fi delusion or a real threat?

Let’s look at an example: a blackout in Quebec, Canada

On March 13, 1989, a solar storm triggered a series of effects on the earth, which ultimately hurt the power grid in Quebec, Canada, resulting in a large-scale power outage in the area, and the number of directly affected residents reached 6 million. The power outage lasted for 9 hours, causing economic losses of up to tens of millions of dollars. This can be said to be a terrible earth storm caused by a very famous solar storm.

The large magnetic storm on October 30, 2003 caused a blackout in Sweden and 15 large transformers in South Africa.

In March 2009, American scientists warned that the strong solar storm that occurred in 2012 was far more destructive than Hurricane Katrina, and countries such as Europe and China would be seriously affected.

So the plot in the movie is not completely fictional.

Solar magnetic storms (solar storms) are a very common phenomenon of solar activity, both large and small, and slight solar magnetic storms will not have any effect on human normal social activities. However, severe solar storms can cause disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field. Strong geomagnetic field disturbances can cause strong geomagnetic induction currents in the power grid. These currents can damage the transformer, so the power grid will also be affected. This is how the solar storm affects us. The process of the grid.

This effect is more pronounced in areas with higher geomagnetic latitudes. Because North America at the same latitude is higher than the geomagnetic latitude of our China Earth, solar storms are more likely to affect their grids.

Although China is located in the middle and low latitudes, with the introduction of China's power networking strategy and the gradual implementation of UHV cross-regional networking, China has become the country with the highest voltage level and the largest AC/DC hybrid power grid in the world. The influence of the topology and network parameters of the power grid on the GIC level is more obvious. Therefore, even if a global magnetic storm disaster occurs under the same geological conditions, the risk and potential threat of China's power grid is more worthy of attention than the high latitude countries.

When you see this, many people will think that if the power grid is really destroyed, then where is there electricity?

Even if the thermal power stations, hydropower stations, and nuclear power plants on the ground are all closed, we still have underground power stations: nuclear power, underground power stations, geothermal power stations, underground cables, underground substations, and really have to sigh the wisdom of human wisdom and powerful technology force.

By: JUCRO Electric (Focus on Vacuum Interrupter, Vacuum circuit breaker, Vacuum contactor , Current/Voltage transformer, SF6 Circuit Breaker, Isolation Switch and Switchgear)

2019.03.16