Measurements of geomagnetically induced current in a power grid in Hokkaido, Japan

Watari, Shinichi; Kunitake, Manabu; Kitamura, Kentarou; Hori, Tomoaki; Kikuchi, Takashi; Shiokawa, K.; Нишитани, Н.; Kataoka, Ryuho; Kamide, Y.; Aso, Teruo; Watanabe, Yuji; Tsuneta, Y.

doi:10.1029/2008sw000417

Cited by 94 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Kappenman [2005] argued that the source of sustained GICs at low and middle latitudes are linked with high rates of variation associated with impulsive increases in the solar wind dynamic pressure or ring current intensifications. These facts have encouraged several research groups and agencies to initiate vulnerability assessment studies on power grids or pipelines located at regions previously considered to have low GIC-risk other than South Africa, such as China [Liu et al, 2009], Japan [Watari et al, 2009], Czech Republic [Hejda and Bochníček, 2005], Kazakhstan [Vodyannikov et al, 2006], Australia [Marshall et al, 2011] or Brasil [Trivedi et al, 2007]. We were similarly motivated to perform such an analysis in a power grid of northeastern Spain, where we are settled.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomagnetically induced currents in a power grid of northeastern Spain

et al. 2012

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[1] Using the geomagnetic records of Ebro geomagnetic observatory and taking the plane wave assumption for the external current source and a homogeneous Earth conductivity, a prediction of the effects of the geomagnetic activity on the Catalonian (northeastern Spain) power transmission system has been developed. Although the area is located at midlatitudes, determination of the geoelectric field on the occasion of the largest geomagnetic storms during the last solar cycles indicates amplitudes that are higher than those recorded in southern Africa, where some transformer failures on large transmission systems have been reported. A DC network model of the grid has been constructed, and the geomagnetically induced current (GIC) flows in the power network have been calculated for such extreme events using the electric field at Ebro as a regional proxy. In addition, GICs have been measured at one transformer neutral earthing of the power grid, so that there the accuracy of the model has been assessed. Although the agreement is quite satisfactory, results indicate that better knowledge of the ground conductivity structure is needed. This represents the first attempt to study and measure GICs in southern European power grids, a region considered to have low GIC-risk up to the present.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geomagnetically induced currents in a power grid of northeastern Spain

et al. 2012

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“…In 2000s, and especially motivated by the October 2003 event, GIC has reached attention also at lower geomagnetic latitudes: see Bernhardi et al (2008) (South Africa), Trivedi et al (2007) (Brazil), Liu et al (2009) (China), Watari et al (2009) (Japan) and Marshall et al (2011) (Australia).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continental scale modelling of geomagnetically induced currents

Viljanen

Pirjola

Wik³

et al. 2012

J. Space Weather Space Clim.

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The EURISGIC project (European Risk from Geomagnetically Induced Currents) aims at deriving statistics of geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) in the European high-voltage power grids. Such a continent-wide system of more than 1500 substations and transmission lines requires updates of the previous modelling, which has dealt with national grids in fairly small geographic areas. We present here how GIC modelling can be conveniently performed on a spherical surface with minor changes in the previous technique. We derive the exact formulation to calculate geovoltages on the surface of a sphere and show its practical approximation in a fast vectorised form. Using the model of the old Finnish power grid and a much larger prototype model of European high-voltage power grids, we validate the new technique by comparing it to the old one. We also compare model results to measured data in the following cases: geoelectric field at the Nagycenk observatory, Hungary; GIC at a Russian transformer; GIC along the Finnish natural gas pipeline. In all cases, the new method works reasonably well.

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“…Highlatitude countries (in particular those in the auroral zone band of 55-70 • geographic latitude, where the auroral electrojet dominates) and regions of high ground resistivity are most susceptible to GICs , and there have been several studies conducted in these areas (Viljanen and Pirjola, 1994;Beamish et al, 2002;Wik et al, 2008;Myllys et al, 2014). Research into GICs in lowlatitude and equatorial countries such as the Czech Republic (Hejda and Bochníček, 2005), Brazil (da Silva Barbosa et al, 2015), Spain (Torta et al, 2012), Greece (Zois, 2013), Japan (Watari et al, 2009), South Africa (Bernhardi et al, 2008;Matandirotya et al, 2015), Australia (Marshall et al, 2011), and New Zealand (Beland and Small, 2005), which were previously considered to be at low risk from all but the most extreme geomagnetic storms, show that considerable GICs (in the range of tens of amperes) do also appear at lower latitudes. In these regions, large geomagnetic variations have been shown to result from ring current intensification, where solar wind is the driving force (Kappenman, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling geomagnetically induced currents in midlatitude Central Europe using a thin-sheet approach

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in power systems, which can lead to transformer damage over the short and the long term, are a result of space weather events and geomagnetic variations. For a long time, only high-latitude areas were considered to be at risk from these currents, but recent studies show that considerable GICs also appear in midlatitude and equatorial countries. In this paper, we present initial results from a GIC model using a thinsheet approach with detailed surface and subsurface conductivity models to compute the induced geoelectric field. The results are compared to measurements of direct currents in a transformer neutral and show very good agreement for shortperiod variations such as geomagnetic storms. Long-period signals such as quiet-day diurnal variations are not represented accurately, and we examine the cause of this misfit. The modelling of GICs from regionally varying geoelectric fields is discussed and shown to be an important factor contributing to overall model accuracy. We demonstrate that the Austrian power grid is susceptible to large GICs in the range of tens of amperes, particularly from strong geomagnetic variations in the east-west direction.

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Measurements of geomagnetically induced current in a power grid in Hokkaido, Japan

Cited by 94 publications

References 33 publications

Geomagnetically induced currents in a power grid of northeastern Spain

Geomagnetically induced currents in a power grid of northeastern Spain

Continental scale modelling of geomagnetically induced currents

Modelling geomagnetically induced currents in midlatitude Central Europe using a thin-sheet approach

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