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Post by Dave on Jul 18, 2010 21:07:32 GMT -5
 The Solar 'Katrina' Storm That Could Take Our Power Grid Out For YearsLawrence E. Joseph
Author, "Apocalypse 2012"John Kappenman, 55, an obscure electrical engineer from Duluth, Minnesota, is determined to save civilization from the mother of all blackouts. If he succeeds, the daily life of billions around the world will continue undisrupted. But if he fails, we may well suffer on a scale that makes even World Wars seem trivial in comparison. Over the past thirty years, Kappenman has accumulated a vast and compelling body of evidence indicating that sooner or later a major blast of EMP (electromagnetic pulse) from the Sun, a space weather Katrina, will knock out the electrical power grid and bring society to its knees. "Historically large storms have a potential to cause power grid blackouts and transformer damage of unprecedented proportions. An event that could incapacitate the network for a long time could be one of the largest natural disasters we could face," he declares. A bluff, friendly man, half science nerd, half overgrown farm boy, Kappenman insists that solar EMP blasts the size of those that occurred in 1859 (before society was electrified) and 1921(before the power grid had developed to the point where it played any significant role) would today result in large-scale blackouts lasting for months or years. CONTINUED AT: www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-e-joseph/the-solar-katrina-storm-t_b_641354.html |
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Post by keith on Jul 19, 2010 12:50:47 GMT -5
Many decades ago I studied atmospheric electricity in grad school at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Mr. Kappenman seems to have the proper bona fides he is or was an adjunct professor at UMD (after my time) and is a member of IEEE on the appropriate committees. I just don't know if surge suppression on the grid is adequate in the stated circumstances so I called in the big guns. I forwarded the link to my father.
He spent most of his career in power transmission and distribution. I will be interesting to learn his thoughts.
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Post by Dave on Jul 19, 2010 14:08:49 GMT -5
Many decades ago I studied atmospheric electricity in grad school at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Mr. Kappenman seems to have the proper bona fides he is or was an adjunct professor at UMD (after my time) and is a member of IEEE on the appropriate committees. I just don't know if surge suppression on the grid is adequate in the stated circumstances so I called in the big guns. I forwarded the link to my father. He spent most of his career in power transmission and distribution. I will be interesting to learn his thoughts. Guess so! He'd be an the expert. Be sure to let us know his opinion. It did read a bit chicken-little to me, but eventually the sky probably will fall.  |
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Post by keith on Jul 19, 2010 19:23:09 GMT -5
I did get a reply back from my Dad. He's 85 and has been retired for 20 years but apparenty still keeps a map of the distribution system for Western Minnesota and North Dakota in his head. What follows is a mental exercise on what he would do to bring his part of the system back on line.
So evidently he feels that his small part of the national grid would survive loss of connection and be brought back on line in a controllable fashion.
Some clarification. The Hoot Lake plant he writes about is an installation with a coal fired plant next to a hydro plant. I remember him telling me in the past that the hydro plant was sometimes run without load to help stabilize the system, so that's probably why that would come on first. Garrison referrs to the Garrison dam on the Missouri River, a huge generation facility with many interconnects. NSP is Northern States Power, the largest utility in Minnesota.
Although he doesn't say it, I think areas like the Northeast and Southern California would have a tougher time. Those areas are much more dependent on power generated at a considerable distance from users.
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