  Space weather events such as solar flares can be harmful for life and
infrastructure on earth or in near-earth orbit. In this paper we employ extreme
value theory (EVT) to model extreme solar flare events; EVT offers the
appropriate tools for the study and estimation of probabilities for
extrapolation to ranges outside of those that have already been observed. In
the past such phenomena have been modelled as following a power law which may
gives poor estimates of such events due to overestimation. The data used in the
study were X-ray fluxes from NOAA/GOES and the expected return levels for
Carrington or Halloween like events were calculated with the outcome that the
existing data predict similar events happening in 110 and 38 years
respectively.
