Solar Panels and CME
 

Hello All,

I'm about to put up some new solar panels in order to be a little bit more energy independent. I've heard the stories about Coronal Mass Ejections and did some research on the Carrington Events and previous CMEs. I understand if this does happen it will be absolutely devastating to the electrical grid because of the high-voltage transformers. I'm wondering if anyone has any information on whether this would have any effect on a lower-voltage solar panel system. Any input would be much appreciated.

--sjkted

Re: Solar Panels and CME
 

I'm no expert, but I think all that carries electrical current will be fried.
It would be better to have a full system ready and stored in faraday cage and install it after the cme or emp comes.

gibonos

Re: Solar Panels and CME
 

No-one really knows.

A full blast EMP - such as caused by CME or Nuke - induces electricital force in wires. The longer the wire the more this happens - if the wire is long enough the voltage spike (along with sufficient current) is enough to burn out circuits that were not designed to cope with such surges.

Low voltage systems tend to have thicker cables to cope with the correspondingly higher currents, I would say these would be more likely to survive any surges.

Some solar panels have thin wires between the cells, others have thick tracks of solder. I'd say the latter would be more robust.

Longer cable runs = higher probability of problems.

There are lots of reasons why you should have some non-electrical systems in your backup plans. CME/EMP are low down the list of reasons, but I suppose they do have to be there if you are being comprehensive.

A..

Re: Solar Panels and CME
 

Hi, there's lots of talks about the Solar Flare influence on the electromagnetic field of the Earth, at www.spaceweather.com you find explanation about how this works and what these Solar Flares do. With images. Also you can see there, every day, what the activity on the Sun is. And about the Suncycles concerning these Flares. I don't know about low voltage being influenced by the Solar Flares. What I know is, that it has happened before, that the electrical system was busted in the USA by a complete meltdown of the transformators in central electricity places. On Project Camelot, whistleblowers talk about the high probability of such a melt down in the near future, because they know electricians that are quite worried about this.
You could ask at Spaceweather, about the low voltage, maybe. For me it's new, to hear that electricity is involved in using solar energy, I mean, is it used in the energy storing process? I must admit I am quite unfamiliar with Solar energy, I have a battery uploader on Solar energy, that's all. I live in an apartment with 2 homes above me and as my home is a rental, I cannot install Solar Panels. Do you know about a system that's been developed, that involves a foil (thin layer) kind of stuff, that you can stick on wherever you want it? Anyway, you can lower your energy costs by making a box with an old sleeping bag and make a slow cooking device, where you only bring food to a boil and then put it in there. Use no superficial cloth as it will melt when in contact with a hot pan. An old woollen blanket will also do.
Well, this was some old wise woman advise for you, enjoy the new year 2010 cheers and kind regards, Marian.

Re: Solar Panels and CME
 

We just put in a solar water heater and I had wondered about this as well. I just don't know what to think. If from the other reports I read the solar flare is really bad we don't know what will happen and may not need to worry about it ~ meaning we didn't make it.

Anchor, you were speaking about thicker cables how can I tell and what would be an example of a low voltage system?

Re: Solar Panels and CME
 

I was referring to photo voltaic cells not heat exchangers. If you have solar hot water, then unless there is an electric pump I doubt CME or EMP would be a concern.

Low voltage is usually considerered to be anything where the voltage is less than 60 volts.

Normally this means 48v or less since the main voltages for solar power systems are 12/24/48v - this is down to common arrangements for battery arrays being in multiples of 12v.

Higher voltages are found in grid tied systems, but they are no good in a CMP/EMP because without the grid, they are useless.

Re: Solar Panels and CME
 

Ahh, but it does have an electric pump. I did get a solar generator but that would have to be protected if a CME hit. I also suspect the electric pump would get fried.

Hmmm, less then 60 volts. Okay, that gives me something to work with.

Thanks luv :thumb_yello:

Re: Solar Panels and CME
 

Hey

I just wanted to clarify, how do you know that emp wouldn't fry lower voltage. Is there any science behind it, if we don't know how exacly sun works, we also don't know how powerful the wave can get.
This just doesn't work with my logic, wouldn't be so that even small voltages would get fried with a strong enough emp.

What I feel is to hide everything and kick start it after the event, I would not risk it.

gibonos

Re: Solar Panels and CME
 

I dont. I said before no-one really knows.

My hypothesis is simply based on the fact that larger guage wiring has a much higher current carrying capacity. Dont know about the inverter or charge controllers though ;)

Hiding spares in a Faraday cage might be just the ticket if you were worried about a CME (I am not).

However, back to theory about what you can do - it occurred to me that I am planning to get a used sea container to put stuff in - I have too much stuff at the moment. It occurs to me that if I ensure the doors and sides are electrically connected I have a large faraday cage ready to hide stuff in.

Probably do the trick for a CME.

If it was military action and EMP's resulting, then if it were me doing the attack: I would hit you with an EMP - wait till you got your spares out of the grounded sea container in your garden, then hit you again a few days later - game set and match to me.

A..

Re: Solar Panels and CME
 

and that's why I think you always need a back up and store it in the sea container, which I previously though being a great place to hide and seal, wait till the water drops,
but as a faraday cage: great idea :-) and easy to do

gibonos

Re: Solar Panels and CME
 

Hi everyone

Everybody knows it probably but surely it is worth telling that building solar panel by buying cheap sollar cells from ebay instead of buying factory made ones can save a lot of money, there is a lot of book on the internet showing how to solder the cells all together to produce a solar panel like those factory, It sure will be a lot cheaper.

est Regard

Re: Solar Panels and CME
 

The emphasis is on LITTLE?

If you happen to find a quality solar panel (price range 1500EUR and more) that can actually justify its price with the energy output...please let us all know.

Cant answer your question...you need an expert that knows "how stuff works"