Could You Survive a Carrington Event?

[Cotswold]

Not a Carrington Event but an Atmospheric Event has shut down large swathes of Spain and Portugal.
The Atmospheric Event is apparently, or is up to now being blamed on temperature. As high as 20ºc in the day and 7ºc has been mentioned!
So we can only think that this story has a way to run before we know the cause. They are talking about maybe a week of none at all, or intermittent power. They had this issue, then had to stop generating power as they couldn't send power into the grid whilst it was in a state of low demand.
Everyone on the news are in good spirits and appear to see it as a bit of a novelty but that will probably change noticeably after a few days.

Presumably the unpopular tourists will be at the back of the queue for just about everything until it is sorted out.

 

[Cotswold]

It does now appear that the Athmospheric Event, so called actually what they meant was too much cloud and not high temperatures. The nutty green commie brigade zealots have managed to close fossil fuel power stations over Spain, Portugal and parts of France. Nearly total reliance of solar caused the problem. So cloudy days shut down the power over three countries. That situation could last for weeks and nobody seems to worry.

If there happened to be another Krakatoya, those counries would be shut down for months, or years. Or even a smaller one in Iceland which is often predicted. There simply isn't a plan B, which is really the concern. These crackpot schemes are dreamt up by a bunch of the clueless idealistic.

Coming to a country like yours, maybe very soon? .....well not to the USA but no doubt to the rest of us in Europe.

 

[Mark_]

While I may not be able to, a Soviet Lada would be just fine.

 

[RogerCooper]

Checkout this report https://assets.lloyds.com/assets/pd...-Risk-to-the-North-American-Electric-Grid.pdf from Lloyd's of London. It is worth noting that a Carrington-level storm would not knock electricity world-wide. The risk varies greatly from place to place depending on latitude, proximity to the sea and underlying geology.

 

[Cotswold]

The same as any localised event, cyclone, earthquake etc. But little consolation to the people in New York if no other location was affected. It is a random and unpredictable event.

 

[Isaac]

I've been wanting to buy a generator for years. My brother has had one for many years and has come in handy (he lives in Florida, where natural disasters are a part of the deal). I just feel like just my luck I'd make some stupid mistake, since many elements of the plan have to come together to make it worth it (you have to actually HAVE the required gasoline on hand before its unavailable, you have to have all your giant electric extension cords ready and know how and where it's safe to store the generator while running, etc. etc.)

 

[AngelSpeaks]

I've been wanting to buy a generator for years. My brother has had one for many years and has come in handy (he lives in Florida, where natural disasters are a part of the deal). I just feel like just my luck I'd make some stupid mistake, since many elements of the plan have to come together to make it worth it (you have to actually HAVE the required gasoline on hand before its unavailable, you have to have all your giant electric extension cords ready and know how and where it's safe to store the generator while running, etc. etc.)

We have a generator. We also installed another electrical board that we plug the generator into, flip a switch, start it up and we have power to most of the house. Very important that this is done in the correct order or you can fry the electrical company's transformer and get a huge bill from them. The one on the right is for the generator.

 

[Cotswold]

I would think that if your generator was connected when a Carrington hit, then it would blow that as well. I considered a UPS but imagine that would blow with everything else.
I wonder where you would be with insurance for replacements. Presume that if you asked your insurance company they'd say you are not insured and those that don't ask may have a chance. Maybe the government would pick up the bill? After all taxpayers will be paying for new substations. If all your house electrical system is fried together with every computer and electrical device, it would be a fair old bill to pay.
Would it blow electric cars and electrical systems in other cars as well?

 

[AngelSpeaks]

I would think that if your generator was connected when a Carrington hit, then it would blow that as well. I considered a UPS but imagine that would blow with everything else.
I wonder where you would be with insurance for replacements. Presume that if you asked your insurance company they'd say you are not insured and those that don't ask may have a chance. Maybe the government would pick up the bill? After all taxpayers will be paying for new substations. If all your house electrical system is fried together with every computer and electrical device, it would be a fair old bill to pay.
Would it blow electric cars and electrical systems in other cars as well?

We plug the generator in when we need it it's not a Generac. But you raise a valid point. I don't have the answer to your other questions. A former client had to pay when the surge from his system took out a transformer. Our electrician set ours up with a transfer switch so we wouldn't make that mistake if we tried. Both systems have to be active for it to happen. The transfer switch cuts power from one unit and the other takes over after we connect the generator, plug it in, then start it up.