Dive Summary:
- After discovering vulnerabilities in the grid, he Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has put forward new guidelines on how to respond to solar storms and fortify against them.
- When charged particles from solar flares crash into the Earth's magnetosphere, the electric grid acts like a lightning rod for charged currents that can cause serious damage to transmission systems and lead to widespread blackouts.
- The North American Electric Reliability Corp. will draft rules instructing utilities how to operate during a storm, evaluate weaknesses and add protection to the grid.
From the article:
"... The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has been examining the issue for months, encountering varied assessments on whether the electricity system is vulnerable to solar-flare-related damage that could hurt electrical equipment and cause blackouts.
On Thursday, the commission said that its current standards have a 'reliability gap' and 'do not adequately address vulnerabilities' from the so-called geomagnetic storms. ..."