Solar activity and induction of current in commercial power lines.?

Question

I have heard that solar activity can cause power outages. Is this due to the movement of ions inducing the power lines?

If this is the mechanism, then would it be feasable to engineer a device to harvest this energy?

Answer 1

Solar flares have been blamed for tripping the protective relays at substations on the ends of transmission lines.

"...scientists indicate that we have entered the peak period for solar flares and solar storms (January through April 2000). These storms could result in ... less reliable electric power."

"Solar flares usually originate from solar active regions also associated with sunspots. Geomagnetic effects from flares occur when the flare accelerates waves of material and radiation energy into interplanetary space away from the sun and toward the earth. This solar wind package travels the 93 million miles through space and can impact the earth's magnetic field.

The earth's magnetic field then undergoes a period of fluctuations. These fluctuations can induce electric currents within conductive material on or near the earth's surface — e.g., ocean salt water, mineral ore and soil, and long utility transmission lines in areas where the ground soil is rocky and highly resistive to current flow. These events are collectively known as geomagnetic disturbances."

see link below for complete article

Answer 2

commonly little or no. it is basically area of the background noise (the "hiss"), alongside with thunderstorms international. there have been 2 extraordinary coronal mass ejections that i comprehend of in the final a hundred and fifty years that impacted electric structures. One, in 1859, brought about intense voltages in the telegraph gadget, sending sparks or perhaps commencing small fires. Telegraph conversation became into knocked out for numerous hours. the different one i'm conscious of became into the Canadian electric grid, which became into knocked offline in 1989, returned for some hours. So it is not an somewhat established journey that image voltaic interest impacts technologies. Now spacecraft are a diverse tale. They get each and all of the not uncomplicated radiation from such events, being above the ambience. they could desire to take precautions while a extensive hurricane happens. we will not assume such events in improve (so all of us claiming to have seen a scientific prediction of a image voltaic flare in 2013 is mendacity). yet we commonly have numerous days between as quickly as we see something ensue on the solar and while the particle hurricane hits earth, and that's adequate time to coach spacecraft.

Answer 3

It's due to the movement of the radiation belts around the earth. The same ones that cause the Aurora Borealis. And yes, it can be harvested, but it would require stringing up unpowered lines. It'd be DC, and so not really compatible with a 60 cycle system. The tethered sattelite they tried awhile back was a failure because it generated unexpected power. This could ALSO be used to power satellites AND space stations.

Answer 4

We already use solar powered panels for electricity and heating for most "green" houses.
So, yes, of course it can be harvested via right equipment.

Solar variations are changes in the amount of radiant energy emitted by our Sun. There are periodic components, the principal one being described as the 11 year Solar Cycle or Sunspot Cycle, and Aperiodic fluctuations. Solar activity has been measured via satellites during recent decades. Climate scientists are interested in understanding what, if any, effect variations in solar activity have on the temperature of Earth's atmosphere. As such, they are referred to "solar forcing".

The variations in total solar output remained at or below the threshold of detectability until the satellite era, although the small fraction in ultra-violet wavelengths varies by a few percent. Total solar output is now measured to vary (over the last two 11-year sunspot cycles) by approximately 0.1%[1] [2] or about 1.3 W/m2 peak-to-trough during the 11 year sunspot cycle. The amount of solar radiation received at the outer surface of Earth's atmosphere varied little from an average value of 1366 watts per square meter (W/m2).[3] There are no direct measurements of the longer-term variation and interpretations of proxy measures of variations differ; recent results suggest about 0.1% variation over the last 2000 years.[4] The combination of solar variation and volcanic effects has very likely been the cause of some climate change, for example during the Maunder Minimum. A 2006 study and review of existing literature, published in Nature, determined that there has been no net increase in solar brightness since the mid 1970s, and that changes in solar output within the past 400 years are unlikely to have played a major part in global warming. It should be stressed, the same report cautions that "Apart from solar brightness, more subtle influences on climate from cosmic rays or the Sun's ultraviolet radiation cannot be excluded, say the authors. However, these influences cannot be confirmed, they add, because physical models for such effects are still too poorly developed."[5]

Hope this answers your question.

Answer 5

Since present day technical knowledge is limited about the solar activity , (only literature is available) without any proven theory engineers are not in a position to harness the transient energy of solar storms nor have any control of its effects.
Similar other natural sources of transient energy are typhoons / tornadoes / thunder/ storms/ earthquake / sunames/ floods / flow of hot magma from volcanoes / avalanche/ mateor / melting ice burgs of cold arctics etc. which are uncontrollable phenomenons and hence beyond harnessing.

Answer 6

Build Solar Power Easily - http://SolarPower.siopu.com/?msr

Answer 7

I have never heard of the phenomenon you describe, viz., solar activity causing power outages. ---- I know that solar activity can interfere with rf communications.

Conversion of solar to electrical power is done, as you are probably aware, by designed solar panel systems and are used on earth and in space.


Addendum: Just came across an article germane to this issue. Seems I was wrong.

HONOLULU -- Speedy solar storms carrying a billion tons of charged gas through space let out a thunderous scream before they unleash satellite-stopping radiation storms that slam into Earth's magnetic field.




A team of astronomers presented this finding here today at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, one that could give astronauts and engineers forewarning of a type of coronal mass ejection (CME) capable of showering Earth, spacecraft and space travelers with damaging radiation.




Coronal mass ejections are violent solar eruptions that carry massive amounts of electrically charged gas called plasma from the Sun's atmosphere. Once unleashed, these plasma clouds race away from the Sun at up to a million miles per hour.




Depending on the orientation of the associated magnetic fields, Earth-ward eruptions can generate magnetic storms that can flick a giant circuit breaker of sorts on Earth, causing widespread power outages.




Radio showers




Some coronal mass ejections also bring intense radiation storms that can disable satellites or cause cancer in unprotected astronauts.




Here's how these radiation "snowstorms" form: As a CME plows through space it bumps into the charged particles constantly blown from the Sun called the solar wind, resulting in a shock wave. If the shock is powerful enough, it accelerates particles in the solar wind to high speeds capable of triggering radiation storms.




"Some CMEs produce radiation storms, and some don't, or at least the level of radiation is significantly lower," said lead researcher Natchimuthuk Gopalswamy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.




For instance, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has observed more than 10,000 CMEs over the past 10 years, Gopalswamy said, and only about 1 to 2 percent of them produce these particle storms.


"The trick is to identify the ones that can produce dangerous radiation, so we can warn astronauts and satellite operators," Gopalswamy said.


Radio screams


Gopalswamy and his team may have found a way to do just that. Like the calm before a storm (but louder), they found that CMEs with shocks capable of unleashing radio storms are preceded by "screams" in radio waves as they barrel through the solar wind.


They analyzed nearly 500 large coronal mass ejections, finding that while the so-called radio-loud CMEs (those that were preceded by "screams") led to radiation storms, none of the more than 150 radio-quiet CMEs were followed by such storms.


Since radio waves travel at the speed of light, the screams could give forewarning of an impending radio, or radiation, storm.


"We can use a CME's radio noise to give warning that it is generating a radiation storm that will hit us soon," Gopalswamy said. "This will give astronauts and satellite operators anywhere between a few tens of minutes to a couple hours to prepare, depending on how fast the particles are moving."


The team also noticed that most of the radio-loud CMEs came from the Sun's equator, a place known as an active region for solar flares, while most of the radio-quiet CMEs sprouted from the Sun's edges.


Images: Solar Storms


Mysteries of the Sun


Top 10 Sun Images from SOHO


Original Story: Radio ‘Screams’ Forecast Dangerous Solar Storms
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