China’s high-voltage power grid could affect the atmosphere: study
- Researchers say they have detected a particle sink in the Earth’s magnetic field linked to the world’s largest energy system
- Increase in electrons could affect communications, sensitive devices and possibly contribute to a rise in thunderstorms
China’s ultra-high voltage power grid has created a “sink” in the Earth’s magnetic field which could stretch from the country’s southwest to the Indian Ocean, according to a study by Chinese scientists.
The particle sink – generated by a resonance between the world’s largest power grid and the ionosphere – has led to electrically-charged particles falling from space, but the researchers believe most of the energy was absorbed by the atmosphere and is unlikely to harm human health.
However, the increase in electrons could affect communications, GPS, sensitive electromagnetic surveillance devices and possibly contribute to extreme weather events such as thunderstorms, they said.
Beihang University associate professor Wu Jing and her collaborators from the China Electric Power Research Institute and Peking University said limited data, and the complexity of wave-particle interactions in near space, meant it was unclear how and to what extent China’s power grid could affect the planetary environment.
“With the growth of ultra-high voltage power lines in our country, the issue requires close attention,” they wrote in a paper published in the Proceedings of the China Society for Electrical Engineering, a Chinese peer-reviewed journal, on Monday.
China is the only country with power lines that send electric current at 800 kilovolts or more. The ultra-high voltage technology connects the hydropower stations, solar panels and wind farms in its western regions to the densely populated, power-hungry coastal provinces more than 3,000km (1,800 miles) away.
