Did \'Solar Storms\' Cause India\'s Massive Blackout?

By HEATHER TIMMONS

No, we're not wearing tinfoil hats over here at India Ink - so-called “solar storms,” or magnetic eruptions on the sun's surface, have been known to take down electricity grids before, most notably in Quebec in 1989.

And, as it turns out, this year is a year of heightened solar activity.

“The ferocity and pace of the Sun's flares and magnetic eruptions rise and fall on an 11-year cycle, and the Sun has only recently emerged from its slumber and started generating new solar flares,” Kenneth Chang wrote in The New York Times in March.

In fact, Mike Hapgood, a space weather scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Britain, penned an article in April that warned we should “prepare for the coming space weather storm.” These storms, more precisely called “coronal mass ejections,” send charged particles into space that could hit the Earth, he tol d The Los Angeles Times in May, creating electromagnetic disturbances. “Think of it like a hurricane - is it headed toward us or not headed toward us? If we're lucky, it misses us,” he said.

“A big geomagnetic storm can essentially put extra electric currents into the grid,” Mr. Hapgood added. “If it gets bad enough, you can have a complete failure of the power grid.”

And just this past weekend, “a medium-size solar flare erupted from the sun,” MSNBC reported, “hurling a cloud of plasma and charged particles toward Earth on a cosmic path that is expected to deliver a glancing blow to our planet on Tuesday.”

So, are India's power ministers (both previous and current) and its electricity-guzzling northern states off the hook? We thought we'd call the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore to get an expert opinion.

Solar storms “have been of some concern” recently, acknowledged K. E. Rangarajan, a physicist who specializes in the Sun and magnetic fields at the institute.

But, Professor Rangarajan said, there's no evidence to suggest Monday and Tuesday's massive power outages were caused by such an event.

Generally, he explained, these storms affect countries in higher latitudes than India, like Canada and the Netherlands, the most. In the last few days, none of these countries have reported grid problems, he said. “Since it has not been reported in any other part of the world,” solar activity may have no relation to India's power outages, he said.

Still, Professor  Rangarajan added kindly, “It's always good to ask questions.”