Power grid operations on Earth could experience disruptions during several types of solar weather events, particularly:
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Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs): These large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun's corona can disturb the Earth's magnetosphere, leading to geomagnetic storms that can induce currents in power lines and potentially cause transformer damage or overloads.
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Solar Flares: While solar flares primarily emit radiation (like X-rays), they can also impact communication systems and satellite operations. However, their direct impact on power grids is generally less significant than that of CMEs.
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Solar Wind: Enhanced solar wind conditions, especially when associated with high-speed streams from coronal holes, can lead to geomagnetic storms. These can similarly affect power grids by inducing currents.
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Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs): These high-energy particles can also pose risks to satellites and astronauts but have a more localized effect compared to CMEs and may not directly impact ground-based power systems.
Among these, CMEs are generally the most critical events for predicting significant impacts on power grid operations due to their potential to cause strong geomagnetic storms that affect infrastructure.
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