"Regulators overseeing the country’s electric grid want to set new rules to better protect it from disturbances caused by solar storms.

Solar storms can cause geomagnetic disturbances, which could harm transmission equipment like electric transformers and cause widespread blackouts and other electricity problems.

That concerns the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which oversees bulk electricity transmission.

The body voted Thursday morning to formally propose standards for utilities to foresee solar storm disturbances and build in systems to reduce the resulting problems."

Timothy Cama reports for The Hill May 14, 2015. [2]