Assessment of Geomagnetically Induced Currents Impact on Power Grid Modelling

Abstract

Recent history demonstrates that threat has no borders, though risk does, due to national and regional differences in vulnerabilities and exposure landscapes. The difference between well and poorly managed threat is striking. Inequalities in preparing for threats as a function of their type are still apparent. Compared to more concerning electromagnetic interference threats, the impact of geomagnetic disturbance (GMD) on power grid operation is not well studied. The need for detailed research of GMD negative impacts is expected to broaden awareness. The amplitude of geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) is treated as a uniform measure of danger that can be processed by various stakeholders. Hence, methods for increasing the accuracy of GIC representation are presented in this paper. A low-entropy signal is defined and it is shown that the feature of low signal entropy can be used for increasing the accuracy of the measurement equipment. At the end, a full-system view of GMD impact on power grid operation is given.

Keywords

• blackout
• electromagnetic compatibility
• geomagnetic disturbance
• mitigation
• power transformer
• power grid