Realtime GIC modelling in the UK power grid

In conjunction with National Grid (NG), BGS developed a real-time system to estimate Geomagnetically Induced Currents across the GB power grid in order to warn about risks to the power grid. The GIC and other data are available via a password-protected webpage to the grid operators in NG headquarters. Magnetic field data is delivered to BGS Edinburgh, where an induced electric field is computed based on the estimated external magnetic field for the previous 15 minutes using data from our three UK magnetometers at Lerwick, Eskdalemuir and Hartland. The electric field is used to compute the excess GIC in around 700 high-voltage transformers across the NG network. The output from our computer model is parsed and loaded onto the BGS MAGIC website, which is updated every 15 minutes. The website provides a colour-coded zoomable map of estimated GIC at each transformer (using the OpenStreetMap API), a table of the top five at risk nodes, and a record of the previous four hours of data available as an animation. In addition, other GIC risk indicators such as rate of change of the magnetic field and space weather indices and measurements are provided to the operator.