Abstract
We analyze the solar influence of space weather events on Polish energy infrastructure via geomagnetic disturbances. We consider two time intervals of very different levels of solar activity (SA) in the course of the solar activity cycle 24: 2010—an early rising phase of SA, near the solar minimum and 2014—solar maximum. From the total number of electrical grid failures, we extract almost five thousand failures in 2010 and more than ten thousand in 2014, which could be related to space weather effects. We analyze data of failures having unidentified causes, failures coupled with the aging of transmission network elements and electronic devices, which appeared during the time intervals of enhanced geomagnetic activity. We show that around the times of increasing geomagnetic activity level, the amount of transmission lines failures in the groups mentioned above grows, but mostly with some delay. It might be connected to some cumulative effect due to the result of transient states and their propagation in the distribution network. Although we do not exclude that the other factors may play a role, the solar-originating disturbances strengthen these effects.
Highlights
The capacity installed in the Polish National Power System in 2017 was 43,332 MW increasing by 5% in relation to 2016
This event was initiated by the interplay between two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and high-speed solar wind streams from a corotating interaction region [33] and caused the geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) enhancement in transmission lines on the
There were no observed spectacular blackouts, the total number of electrical grids failures from general groups (D–F), which we suppose that might be connected, or at least strengthened by solar-induced phenomena, have grown around the time of geomagnetic disturbances
Summary
The capacity installed in the Polish National Power System in 2017 was 43,332 MW increasing by 5% in relation to 2016. Kozyreva et al [32] reported that its main phase was rather step-wise (∼17 h duration), it contained shortly-living substorm-like activities, with geomagnetic indices, IE and AE, up to ∼1500–2500 nT (where AE index from http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp, describes the planetary geomagnetic field disturbance at auroral latitudes, which are caused by the auroral electrojet and IE is the IMAGE Electrojet indicator from https://space.fmi.fi, being a simple estimator of the total eastward and westward currents crossing the magnetometer network) This event was initiated by the interplay between two CMEs and high-speed solar wind streams from a corotating interaction region [33] and caused the GIC enhancement in transmission lines on the.
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