How Would a Carrington Event Affect Solar Panels?

[Joseph M. Zias]

TL;DR Summary

How will a Carrington event affect solar panels.

Has any research been done to determine the effect a Carrington Event (or close) solar flare would affect solar panels?

 

[Baluncore]

It will depend on the location of the solar panels.

 

[berkeman]

Has any research been done to determine the effect a Carrington Event (or close) solar flare would affect solar panels?

I would think the panels themselves would not have an issue, but the issues with the overall power grid and the solar panel system MPPT inverters connected to the grid would be the thing to discuss. @anorlunda is probably our local expert on this...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_power_point_tracking

 

[Joseph M. Zias]

I would think the panels themselves would not have an issue, but the issues with the overall power grid and the solar panel system MPPT inverters connected to the grid would be the thing to discuss. @anorlunda is probably our local expert on this...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_power_point_tracking

Granted location makes a difference. Let's assume the solar flare is widespread and a large number of solar panels are hit by the sun's energy. I believe most solar panels are still made from silicon or a silicon alloy. What happens to the junction? Could an overload cause excessive heating? What other failure mechanisms are there?

 

[berkeman]

Granted location makes a difference. Let's assume the solar flare is widespread and a large number of solar panels are hit by the sun's energy. I believe most solar panels are still made from silicon or a silicon alloy. What happens to the junction? Could an overload cause excessive heating? What other failure mechanisms are there?

What research have you done so far into the damaging effects of geomagnetic storms caused by solar flares? Also, do you have any background into how antennas work, and why the size of the antenna affects the frequencies that induce significant receive voltages at the terminals of the antenna?

The EM effects of geomagnetic storms are lower frequency and hence longer wavelength in nature. So the power grid is at risk, and the terminal devices connected to that grid are as well (like the MPPT inverters that I mentioned earlier). But small devices themselves that are connected to the power grid are at lower risk, especially if they implement the typical protection methods for lightning and similar surge events. Does that make sense?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_storm

 

[anorlunda]

I have a friend who is perhaps the world's best expert on protecting the grid from solar storms. He worked on the problem for 30 years. I asked him to post here on PF, or to write us an Insight article. Alas, he declined. Here's what little I know.

There was major damage to the grid in Quebec in 1989. That really got the attention of the industry. Since then, they have worked very hard to assure that event can never repeat. Today, they are confident that they have it licked. Indeed, several times per year there is a solar storm that the press says, "may cause blackouts", but they don't. But it is impossible to prove a negative; similarly it is impossible to prove that there isn't a more powerful storm that could bring the grid down; so one can never say never. Indeed, there's nothing to prevent a solar storm so powerful that it kills all life on Earth. Do we care if the grid stays up after all the people are dead?

The primary threat vector to the grid due to solar storms is voltage gradients in the soil as streams of charged particles reach the Earth's high resistance surface and try to equalize. When power transmission lines can run for thousands of km, and the ground gradients can become as large as 1 megavolt per meter, it's not hard to visualize problems.

Here's an article on the topic. But it is behind a paywall, and I no longer have access to the full text.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/shielding-grids-from-solar-storms

Also see from 2003
Extreme Solar Storm Strikes Earth