High-impact low frequency stuff is always hard to discuss, it always devolves into two camps accusing each other of exaggerating or understating the danger. On

High-impact low frequency stuff is always hard to discuss, it always devolves into two camps accusing each other of exaggerating or understating the danger. One of the more productive approaches you can take to sidestep all that is to look at mitigation strategies that help against other types of harm. So, sure, putting every long line in a Faraday cage is probably a waste of money. But it wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure there's some sort of ready supply of large transformers. The major transformers aren't just costly, they have a long lead time, and there are a handful of unlikely events that can wipe a lot of them all at once. (And some more likely events that take them out a few at a time.) One complicating factor is that for every 10 transformers, there are probably 9 designs, you pretty much design these things from scratch each time. Some manufacturers can repurpose pre-owned transformers... it's not cheap, but it might be faster than building a new one from scratch. The biggest obstacle to that approach is just knowing what's out there to be repurposed. NERC's trying to maintain a spare equipment database to help the industry figure that out, but it's voluntary, so it's not clear how comprehensive it will be. I thought there was a mobile transformer supply being maintained by the industry too, but can't find reference to it at this time... maybe the spare equipment database is as far as they've gotten. NY Times coverage of a quick transformer replacement drill last year: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/business/energy-environment/electric-industry-runs-transformer-replacement-test.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/business/energy-environmen... DOE paper on large power transformer replacement hurdles: http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/Large%20Power%20Transformer%20Study%20-%20June%202012_0.pdf http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/Large%20Power%20Transform... NERC's outline for the spare equipment database: http://www.nerc.com/docs/pc/sedtf/SEDTF_Report_Draft_PC_Meeting_2.pdf http://www.nerc.com/docs/pc/sedtf/SEDTF_Report_Draft_PC_Meet... If generators get knocked out, maybe get one of these Russian nuclear power stations to float by and hook up to the grid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_floating_nuclear_power_station http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_floating_nuclear_power_...