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Solar Flare?

burgerking

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Joined
Apr 6, 2022
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368
Location
Subic, Philippines
How does Solar Flare affect Solar Panels?
Does it cause panels to general more current beyond the rated Isc? more voltage beyond the Vopen? both?

I am currently installing a PV combiner and decided to put more protection: SPD up there and another SPD near the SCC/Inverter down below.
 
Not much.
It induces dc currents in miles long transmission lnes, saturating the transformers, causing them to overheat and fail.
 
How does Solar Flare affect Solar Panels?
Does it cause panels to general more current beyond the rated Isc? more voltage beyond the Vopen? both?

I am currently installing a PV combiner and decided to put more protection: SPD up there and another SPD near the SCC/Inverter down below.
Someone has been watching too many doomsday movies :LOL:
 
It's a valid question because another Carrington Event would most likely surge your power lines and blow out any Grid Tied Inverters.
I have no idea how it would affect solar panels but I could easily see the frames becoming energized if they are not grounded.
The good News is that we now have early warning systems that would give you a couple of days to disconnect the PV array and disconnect from the Grid. There is almost Zero chance you would get hit without knowing about it days in advance.
 
It's a valid question because another Carrington Event would most likely surge your power lines and blow out any Grid Tied Inverters.
No
A solar flare won't do this.
It creates large dc currents which saturate transformers. This won't create a spike, on the contrary, the voltage collapses. Essentially the transformer winding become a plain old wire and shorts out the grid.

Bad news for the grid, which may be down for an extended period, but your grid tie inverters won't care.
 
No
A solar flare won't do this.
It creates large dc currents which saturate transformers. This won't create a spike, on the contrary, the voltage collapses. Essentially the transformer winding become a plain old wire and shorts out the grid.

Bad news for the grid, which may be down for an extended period, but your grid tie inverters won't care.
Hope your right. My system will be completely disconnected, the grid , the PV etc until the storm passed.

Are you considering the fact that there are miles of 240v splitphase line wire that will also get charged up.
 
Hope your right. My system will be completely disconnected, the grid , the PV etc until the storm passed.
It sure can't hurt to disconnect.
This is probably the most significant threat to the grid. I never hear about hardening the grid for this. Foolish.
Those huge transformers aren't made in the US anymore, and utilities don't keep spares laying around.
 
Hope your right. My system will be completely disconnected, the grid , the PV etc until the storm passed.

Are you considering the fact that there are miles of 240v splitphase line wire that will also get charged up.
The "grid" power between poles & transformers are NOT 240V, that's what the tranformers step it down to for homes.
 
Well learn something everyday, watch this thing on solar flares on youtube form the physics girl so yeah sorry about earlier comment I had no idea!

Kept thinking about that nicholas cage movie :oops: earlier...
 
How does Solar Flare affect Solar Panels?
Does it cause panels to general more current beyond the rated Isc? more voltage beyond the Vopen? both?

I am currently installing a PV combiner and decided to put more protection: SPD up there and another SPD near the SCC/Inverter down below.
Not right away. Solar flares cause CMEs (Coronal mass ejections), and if a big one hits Earth or sends current through long cables, it's because of the solar flare (those tens or hundreds of miles long). It's possible that if you didn't have good surge protectors, this could feed back into your panel and fry it, but a surge that big would fry every appliance in your house and probably start fires.
 
The "grid" power between poles & transformers are NOT 240V, that's what the tranformers step it down to for homes.
I am talking about after the transformer. A lot of countries have the wiring above ground.
 
I am talking about after the transformer. A lot of countries have the wiring above ground.
Couple of miles is small distance in this context. Geomagnetic storm is going to cause small-ish DC offsets in the large loops created by wiring.
Loop created by 5 mile cable to your home is tiny compared to 400kV grid spanning 1500 miles and hanging 10 times higher above the ground.
Small DC offsets create havoc in large grid transformers causing them to saturate. Lots of the equipment at your home on the other hand is totally unaffected by small DC offsets and even the sensitive ones probably handle it with little groaning.
 
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