24 Sep 2015

Solar storms and the electricity network

From Nine To Noon, 9:40 am on 24 September 2015

In March 1989 a solar storm caused the collapse of an electric power grid in Canada, which plunged 9 million people into an electricity blackout. Solar activity and winds are closely monitored because of the potential danger they pose to technology. Physicist Craig Rodger from Otago University is leading New Zealand research into reducing the possible damage to electricity infrastructure from very large geomagnetic storms.