NASA Plans For Large Scale Power Grid Failure

[Mark]

NASA Plans For Large Scale Power Grid Failure

For many it’s either tin foil conspiracy theory or an action packed Hollywood Armageddon flick. For the National Aeronautics and Space Administration it’s a serious threat, with the potential to wipe out the technologically driven lives we’ve become so used to.

Our sun is approaching a period of high turbulence, referred to as the solar maximum, with many scientists suggesting a peak in activity around 2013. The cycle occurs every 11 years, and the next time around it is predicted to be one of the weakest in decades. However, some contrary opinions hold that the next solar maximum may be stronger than we expect, citing a 26,000 year galactic alignment cycle, scheduled to occur on or around 2012, eerily coinciding with the end of the Mayan calendar.

One organization that isn’t taking any chances is NASA. As the sun begins to awaken, scientists are keeping a close eye on space weather:

“The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity. At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms. The intersection of these two issues is what we’re getting together to discuss.”

The National Academy of Sciences framed the problem two years ago in a landmark report entitled “Severe Space Weather Events—Societal and Economic Impacts.” It noted how people of the 21st-century rely on high-tech systems for the basics of daily life. Smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications can all be knocked out by intense solar activity. A century-class solar storm, the Academy warned, could cause twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina.

A 132-page NASA funded report titled Severe Space Weather Events—Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts, suggests that the right magnitude storm could be devastating:

The problem begins with the electric power grid. “Electric power is modern society’s cornerstone technology on which virtually all other infrastructures and services depend,” the report notes. Yet it is particularly vulnerable to bad space weather. Ground currents induced during geomagnetic storms can actually melt the copper windings of transformers at the heart of many power distribution systems. Sprawling power lines act like antennas, picking up the currents and spreading the problem over a wide area. The most famous geomagnetic power outage happened during a space storm in March 1989 when six million people in Quebec lost power for 9 hours.

According to the report, power grids may be more vulnerable than ever. The problem is interconnectedness. In recent years, utilities have joined grids together to allow long-distance transmission of low-cost power to areas of sudden demand. On a hot summer day in California, for instance, people in Los Angeles might be running their air conditioners on power routed from Oregon. It makes economic sense—but not necessarily geomagnetic sense. Interconnectedness makes the system susceptible to wide-ranging “cascade failures.”

To estimate the scale of such a failure, report co-author John Kappenmann of the Metatech Corporation looked at the great geomagnetic storm of May 1921, which produced ground currents as much as ten times stronger than the 1989 Quebec storm, and modeled its effect on the modern power grid. He found more than 350 transformers at risk of permanent damage and 130 million people without power. The loss of electricity would ripple across the social infrastructure with “water distribution affected within several hours; perishable foods and medications lost in 12-24 hours; loss of heating/air conditioning, sewage disposal, phone service, fuel re-supply and so on.”

“The concept of interdependency,” the report notes, “is evident in the unavailability of water due to long-term outage of electric power–and the inability to restart an electric generator without water on site.”

What if the May 1921 superstorm occurred today? A US map of vulnerable transformers with areas of probable system collapse encircled. A state-by-state map of transformer vulnerability is also available: click here.

The potential for major disruptions to our lives and our modern day just-in-time delivery systems could lead to total chaos in affected areas:



“A contemporary repetition of the Carrington Event would cause … extensive social and economic disruptions,” the report warns. Power outages would be accompanied by radio blackouts and satellite malfunctions; telecommunications, GPS navigation, banking and finance, and transportation would all be affected. Some problems would correct themselves with the fading of the storm: radio and GPS transmissions could come back online fairly quickly. Other problems would be lasting: a burnt-out multi-ton transformer, for instance, can take weeks or months to repair. The total economic impact in the first year alone could reach $2 trillion, some 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina or, to use a timelier example, a few TARPs.

MORE: http://eugenicsanddepopulation.blogspot.com/2010/06/nasa-plans-for-large-scale-failure.html

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/2274/397/NASA_Plans_For_Large_Scale_Power_Grid_Failure.html

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/severe-weather-us-power-grid/17498060
Severe Weather Poses Threat to Archaic US Power Grid
9/10/13

Heat waves, blizzards, hurricanes and other severe weather events have already shown the numerous vulnerabilities of the U.S. power grid system by inducing blackouts and massive power outages throughout the country. As the system grows older and severe weather seemingly occurs more often, concerns regarding the system's flaws are mounting.

As the leading cause of power outages in the U.S., severe weather has caused more than 675 power outages between 2003 and 2012, costing the U.S. approximately $18 billion to $33 billion per year, according to a report by the President's Council of Economic Advisers and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.

The construction of the current grid began in the late 1880s and while portions of the grid have been updated and changed over time, more than 70 percent of the grid's transmission lines and transformers are at least 25 years old, according to the report.

Understanding the U.S. Power Grid
The operation and day-to-day functionality of the U.S. power grid can be explained more simply in comparison to the human heart, according to renowned Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor at the University of Minnesota Dr. Massoud Amin.

It begins with a customer who turns on a light, when that light is turned on millions of electrons travel instantaneously at the speed of light to provide electricity to that room without delay. These electrons travel from more than 150,000 generators across the United States and into four major subregions, taking the path of least resistance or the power lines with the least traffic.

Unlike a piping system these electrons must be balanced as electricity is transferred across the country. This must occur before its voltage is repeatedly broken down to a lower voltage that can be used in a home or business, etc. Once the voltage is broken down, it is then delivered to its requester.

However, when hundreds of people go to turn on the light at the same time, the system must work harder to deliver more electricity immediately, without delay. This process can be compared to the way the human body pumps blood faster through veins and arteries to the heart in a stressful situation like exercise, versus circulation to the heart when the body is at rest.

"Think of a massive scale system that has to work nearly perfectly," said Amin.

Since the birth of the grid, severe weather has induced some of its headline outages. The most recent being Superstorm Sandy that slammed the New Jersey coast last year, leaving millions without power for weeks. Sandy contributed to the $27 billion to $52 billion dollars that outages cost the U.S. that year, according to a White House report.

When severe weather hits an area, the demand for electricity increases in that area and as a result more energy is acquired from the system. Due to a variety of factors including the aging system, the amount of the grid that exists above ground and the inability to re-route power when a specific pathway fails, the grid then fails and results in a power outage.

In the United States, annual weather outages have been on the rise since the 1950s.

"From 2008 to 2012, such weather-related incidents increased to between 70 and 130 outages per year," Amin said. "In the '60s, '70s and '80s, these were only about 20 percent of major outages but now 68 to 74 percent of outages have weather as the primary cause."

Other than the inability to provide power when the grid is interrupted, a power outage results in major economic losses in multiple facets of corporate America.

"Manufacturing companies, financial corporations, consulting IT services and data centers are hit hardest when it comes to power outages," Owner of Providence GIS Solutions Jason Tuck said.

Each year, the industry that weighs in as the top financial loser fluctuates, determined by the severity of nature, Tuck explains.

In recent years, the 2011 tsunamis in Japan hit companies Sony and Toyota hard economically. Just this year, Amazon.com experienced a power outage that cost the company millions in just a few minutes.

more

[Mark]

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[Psalm 51:17]

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[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2014/01/21/Bastardi-Arctic-Outbreak-with-Multiple-Storms-to-Last-10-15-Days-Has-Power-Grid-Concerns
1/21/14
Bastardi: Arctic Outbreak with Multiple Storms to Last 10-15 Days, Has Power Grid Concerns

On Sean Hannity’s radio show on Tuesday, Weatherbell Analytics meteorologist Joe Bastardi predicted today’s severe winter weather is just the beginning of a 10 to 15 day outbreak to hit the Midwest, the Great Lakes region and the Northeast.

 “I think this is blizzard conditions on [Long Island] tonight, coastal New Jersey, southeastern New England,” Bastardi said. “Severe and extreme cold developing at the tail end of this storm. And this is the beginning of a siege that I’m very concerned is going to have an immense impact on the country economically. I’m very concerned, and I hope I’m wrong, about the power grid. That Arctic outbreak that came for three to four days earlier in the month, led to blackouts. We’ve got 10 to 15 days of this coming now, where one shot after another comes in and more storms are coming. And you know, this is not trying to be doom and gloom. You don’t need to hype the weather. It will hype itself naturally.”