3 ms·

The real danger in a Carrington event is that the grid isn't shut down in time and the transformers all have a large dc bias through them and sufficient power t

The real danger in a Carrington event is that the grid isn't shut down in time and the transformers all have a large dc bias through them and sufficient power to cause saturation, followed by rapid heating and self-destruction.[2] Covid taught me that rational plans don't work if leadership gets twitchy. Making the decision to turn off the grid is likely to induce that level of twitchiness. So, we'd get an extra hour or two of the grid, before losing it completely, in an otherwise preventable disaster. Any unplanned shutdown (because of protective relays) is likely to trigger a black start event[1] in any case. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOSnQM1Zu4w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOSnQM1Zu4w What Is A Black Start Of The Power Grid? / Practical Engineering [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLO9WxVO9s8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLO9WxVO9s8 The Grid vs. The Next Big Solar Storm / Real Engineering

quickthrower2 4y ago
Should be a no brainer though. And it is not a complex political thing. The grid operator can do it. There must be many triggers for turning off parts or all of it. The UK turned 10% of the grid off last year I think to preserve the frequency.
hotpotamus 4y ago
I don't know a lot about the electrical grid, but I had heard that the Texas grid came within minutes of complete collapse during February 2021. I have no idea how they made the decisions they did, but I feel like at some point you need an engineer or two who understand the consequences of failing to take action standing by to just press the button when the time comes.
compressedgas 4y ago
They need to install the protective capacitors which would protect the transformer against the DC bias voltage of a Carrington event. If these were installed, there would be no need to consider turning the grid off.
- mikewarot 4y ago
  That may work on the larger feeds, but what about all the distribution transformers spread across the world? That's decades of upgrades for little apparent threat. Not only that, you then start interfering with the power factor of everything, possibly increasing resistance losses due to reactive power flows.

quickthrower2 4y ago

Should be a no brainer though. And it is not a complex political thing. The grid operator can do it. There must be many triggers for turning off parts or all of it. The UK turned 10% of the grid off last year I think to preserve the frequency.

hotpotamus 4y ago

I don't know a lot about the electrical grid, but I had heard that the Texas grid came within minutes of complete collapse during February 2021. I have no idea how they made the decisions they did, but I feel like at some point you need an engineer or two who understand the consequences of failing to take action standing by to just press the button when the time comes.

compressedgas 4y ago

They need to install the protective capacitors which would protect the transformer against the DC bias voltage of a Carrington event. If these were installed, there would be no need to consider turning the grid off.

mikewarot 4y ago
That may work on the larger feeds, but what about all the distribution transformers spread across the world? That's decades of upgrades for little apparent threat. Not only that, you then start interfering with the power factor of everything, possibly increasing resistance losses due to reactive power flows.