Source: ZINGSA’s innovation safeguards infrastructure from solar storms – herald
Remember Deketeke-Herald Correspondent
The Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) has launched a new research project aimed at protecting electricity and telecommunications infrastructure from solar storms.
Solar storms are disturbances on the sun, which can emanate outward across the heliosphere, affecting entire solar systems, including the Earth.
Solar storms, specifically geomagnetic storms, can have significant impacts on the country’s economy and the lifespan of power transformers.
These storms induce currents (GICs) that can cause overheating and damage to transformers, potentially leading to power outages and economic disruption.
In an interview with The Herald on Tuesday, ZINGSA’s chief scientist and the agency’s lead for Space Operations and Launch Services Dr Edmore Tarambiwa said the initiative has seen Zimbabwe take major strides in understanding and mitigating these space-driven threats to energy systems.
“This is a scientific milestone not only for Zimbabwe but also for the entire southern hemisphere,” he said.
“We have developed practical applications that link space weather to energy resilience, something that few nations have dared to venture into.”
The launch comes after the project by ZINGSA scooped the Presidential Innovation Award in 2024 for best energy innovation, with their “Geomagnetically Induced Currency System”.
The project, titled Geomagnetically Induced Currency System, emerged from ZINGSA’s Research and Innovation Committee, which Dr Tarambiwa also chairs.
At the heart of this innovation was a research breakthrough on “geomagnetically induced currents (GICs)” —invisible electrical currents triggered by solar activity that flow into the earth’s crust and can cause devastating effects on power infrastructure, particularly transformers.
Geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) are electrical currents induced at the earth’s surface by rapid changes in the geomagnetic field caused by space weather events.
In November 2003, a solar storm caused a sharp change in DGA (Dissolved Gas Analysis) recorded from 12 South African power transformers, leading to significant economic losses due to business disruptions, reduced productivity, and damage to infrastructure.
It was executed in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) and involved complex research into how geomagnetic storms, often caused by solar flares and coronal mass ejections, can trigger harmful currents that silently damage transformers over time.
“We realised that the ZETDC had done valuable work on power distribution and atmospheric influences,” Dr Tarambiwa said.
“But the space weather component had been largely unexplored, and that is where we came in.”
ZINGSA’s intervention, led in the field by engineer and MPhil student Patience Muchini, included the development and deployment of specialised sensor equipment across key substations nationwide.
“The goal was to measure and capture the geomagnetic-induced currents, analyse them in real-time, and correlate them with transformer performance metrics,” he said.
Eng Muchini worked under the mentorship of former ZINGSA chief scientist, Dr Electodom Matandirotya.
“We were able to show, with actual field data, that these currents generated from space were indeed contributing to transformer degradation,” said Dr Tarambiwa.
“This was previously an invisible threat, but now it is measurable and, more importantly, manageable.”
The collaboration has not only resulted in actionable insights for Zimbabwe’s power sector, but has also elevated the country’s reputation in both space science and energy innovation.
The findings were recently accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed international journal.
“That alone proves the novelty of our work,” said Dr Tarambiwa.
“You do not get published for repeating known science. This research passed global scrutiny.”
The 2024 Presidential Innovation Awards jury seemed to agree.
The project was awarded Best Energy Innovation, winning US$100,000 in prize money.
But the initiative’s total cost, according to ZINGSA, surpassed US$ one million, a figure that reflects the project’s scientific scale and national importance.
“This was not about awards. This was about national development and finding lasting solutions to our chronic power challenges,” Dr Tarambiwa said.
“Now that we know the cause, we are developing mechanisms to suppress or redirect these currents, essentially extending the lifespan of our transformers and boosting power reliability across the grid.”
He believes this breakthrough will fundamentally reshape how Zimbabwe manages its national grid infrastructure, especially as climate change and space weather disturbances become more frequent.
“It places Zimbabwe in a rare group of countries that are actively researching the intersection of space science and energy resilience,” he said.
The broader implications could be transformative for Africa.
“This kind of innovation can be replicated across the continent, especially in countries with fragile power infrastructure,” he added.
Dr Tarambiwa said the journey is far from over.
“We are now focused on refining the technology and looking into predictive models—AI-based systems that can alert operators before a geomagnetic event occurs,” he said.
He added that the innovation aligns perfectly with Zimbabwe’s National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which prioritises scientific research and energy security.
“We are not just ticking boxes. We are creating solutions that matter, from the skies above to the substations below.”
COMMENTS