Advancing a National Electric Grid Reliability Test Bed at Idaho National Laboratory

Solar flares and sunspot cycles could disturb or even interrupt power and communications systems for extended periods of time. That has been the concern of many federal agencies, the U.S. Congress and especially the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies.

"This year, 2013, is projected to be a period of maximum activity in the current solar storm cycle," said Dr. Carl Kutsche, who manages Strategic Technology Integration at Idaho National Laboratory. "Although the current solar cycle is predicted to be less intense on average than previous cycles, solar activity spikes that occur during the maximum of any cycle can be significant. These intense spikes have been responsible for disruption and damage to electrical grids in the past, even causing damage to transformers and interrupting grid operations."

By Keith Arterburn, INL Communications & Governmental Affairs

Full Story: https://inlportal.inl.gov/portal/server.pt/community/newsroom/257/feature_story_details/1269?featurestory=DA_607328