Abstract
Space weather can have major impacts on electrical infrastructure. Multiple instances of transformer damage have been attributed to geomagnetic storms in recent decades, for example, the Hydro Quebec incident of 1989 and the November 2001 storm in New Zealand. While many studies exist on the impacts of geomagnetic storms on power transformers in New Zealand, no studies exist that employ Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) techniques to relate geomagnetic storms to transformer gassing. A relationship has been reported between geomagnetic activity and DGA for South Africa, while none was found in a recent study in Great Britain. This paper attempts to examine this research question by examining dissolved gas data across eight power transformers in different substations in New Zealand from 2016 to 2019. Case studies were conducted which analyzed the DGA readings of each transformer alongside horizontal magnetic field component rate of change measurements at Eyrewell across six geomagnetic storms. These case studies were then augmented with an analysis of the entire data set where magnetic field measurements were compared with individual gas rates to establish a correlation between gas production and geomagnetic activity. Analysis of the results of this study concluded that no link had been found between the production of combustible gasses in a transformer and geomagnetic activity during the observation period. However, we note our dissolved gas analysis was largely in a geomagnetically quieter period, which may limit our analysis. The production of combustible gasses is not correlated to geomagnetic storms for the time period and transformers analyzed.
Space weather (changes in the Earth's magnetic field due to changes in the suns atmosphere) is well known to have major impacts on electrical infrastructure. Multiple incidents have been observed over recent decades which have been directly linked to space weather events, for example, the Hydro Quebec incident of 1989 and the November 2001 storm in New Zealand. In this study the impacts of space weather on power station transformers in New Zealand was analyzed. Data on transformer health for eight different transformers was compared to magnetic field activity from 2016 to 2019 to look for evidence of transformer damage due to solar storms. Case studies were analyzed across six different storms using dissolved gas analysis, which looks at the gas levels inside a transformer to determine its condition. Following the case studies general trends in the data were analyzed. From our analysis we concluded that no link had been found between space weather and transformer damage during the observation period. This was likely due to the quiet nature of the sun's atmosphere at the time.
Gas data from eight NZ transformers from 2016 to 2019 were analyzed to relate geomagnetic activity with the production of combustible gasses A statistical investigation was conducted analyzing gas records alongside magnetic field and current measurements over the same period No link found between combustible gas production in these transformers and geomagnetic activity for this time period