To defend against it you just need a fuse, or a relay.
Put one on each transformer that cuts power if it exceeds limits, this would save the transformer and would allow us to restore function pretty quickly.
Put one on each transformer that cuts power if it exceeds limits, this would save the transformer and would allow us to restore function pretty quickly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKXPeTvmVQg
These systems are complicated, hard to maintain and expensive.
I say "fuse or relay", but for the power levels involved these are NOT simple components.
Wish I had better news, but hey you protect against "real" risks, like LOOPs, trips, downed trees, lightning, regulators, and floods. Well I guess the quotes are unfair, these things happen often. So these are real things you want to mitigate. End of the world stuff, no one takes that seriously sadly.
Also, don't forget a lot of the protective relays are digital protective relays. So even if you have them, well they might not work in This case. So aside from the digital PRs being "better" companies still sell them and few sell the older SD models, so we end up replacing the old solid state relays with digital drop in ones.
So even if you have a PR it might not work in this case. And frankly few people in the industry, or with the regulators, takes a geostorm seriously in commercial power, even though they should.
It'll only be considered an investment when the damage can out-weight the cost. So it's likely they'll only learn the lesson after the first solar storm hits, unless legislation demands they put it now.