Large-Scale Common-Mode Current Rejection

There is a demonstrated need to protect power lines from disruptions to the Earth's magnetic field which can induce currents in the electrical conductors of such communications systems and pipelines. These disruptions can be caused by high altitudedetonation of nuclear weapons or by solar activity. These geomagnetically-induced currents (GICs) cause saturation of the transformers, resulting in increased heating, generation of harmonics, and reactive power demand, each of which can lead to problemswith system operation and dramatically increased corrosion rates of metallic pipelines.During the Baseline program, Engineering Matters will develop protective system designs for transformers and transmission lines in conjunction with our commercialutility teammate. We will then demonstrate the success of these designs in tests using sub-scale systems. During the Optional Task, we will design an additional technique to protect rotating synchronous generators.Electric system infrastructurepreservation and reliable delivery of high quality electric power will be aided by the development of GIC mitigation techniques.