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 In a Lloyds 360 article, the organization has highlighted a growing threat created by demand for power transformers outstripping supply.
The key points of the article are:
• A major transformer failure can wreak havoc, causing power shortages or outages affecting millions of homes and businesses.
• Transformers are potential weak links in the power grid. If one fails the entire network is rendered vulnerable. If a power surge occurs across the network, knocking out a number of transformers, the electrical grid could be crippled for months, even years.
• There is a growing global shortage of transformer units.The problem is that these transformer units are big, expensive to build and largely custom made. A recent surge in demand has pushed back delivery times, meaning that if a transformer fails it can take three years before a replacement is delivered.
• The number of new transformers built around the world each year is less than 100 and manufacturers are weighed down by orders from India, China, Latin America and the Middle East, where new electrical grids are being built to cope with the booming demand for power. Shortages in the supply of copper, a vital component in the manufacture of transformers, have caused further delays and the cost to spiral.
• The UK and other countries have sophisticated arrangements to ensure there is spare capacity within the system, so the power will stay on even if a major transformer fails. But this puts enormous pressure on the remaining network, which could lead to supply disruptions.
• The risk that a huge electromagnetic pulse could knock out not one, but a string of transformers across the electricity network, crippling the system, is a nightmare prospect that is preoccupying governments.
• One source of such a powerful EMP is a terrorist attack using a nuclear bomb. A powerful geomagnetic storm could be another source of widespread EMP related damage.
Read the article.
•Date: 25th August 2010 • Region: UK/World •Type: Article •Topic: Power management
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