Lightning protection of PV systems

Ekonomou, Lambros; Gonos, Ioannis F.; Papanikolaou, Nick

doi:10.1007/s12667-015-0176-2

Cited by 30 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Others can apply this knowledge to attune their understanding of local, nuanced orographic processes at the individual valley or mountaintop scale. Furthermore, a better understanding of lightning climatologies brings a robust context to studies related to wildland fire initiation zones (Read et al 2018), wildland fire firefighting resource placement (Arienti et al 2006), outdoor recreation risk management (Cooper and Holle 2019), site selection for wind turbines (Smorgonskiy et al 2017) and solar arrays (Christodoulou et al 2016), the calibration of the GOES-16 Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM, Rudlosky et al 2017), and understanding vertical atmospheric mountain system connections with troposphere and mesosphere wave patterns (Portele et al 2018). In sum, an awareness of the complexities of lightning activity in topographically diverse places enables forecasters to connect higher and lower levels of thunderstorm activity to local and regional terrain features.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colorado Lightning Climatology

Hodanish¹,

Vogt²,

Wolyn³

2019

J. Operational Meteor.

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Average cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning flash density values for Colorado are analyzed for the 21-yr period 1996–2016. An annual mean map and monthly mean maps of flash density provide insight into the thunderstorm/lightning climatology over the complex physical landscapes of Colorado. Findings include that 1) the Denver convergence/vorticity zone regional circulation influences the CG lightning distribution across the northeastern Colorado region; 2) moisture associated with the North American monsoon increases CG lightning over the entire state, focusing along the southern exposures of the San Juan Mountains; and 3) the highest concentrations of CG lightning occur where moisture, lift, and instability are maximized.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colorado Lightning Climatology

Hodanish¹,

Vogt²,

Wolyn³

2019

J. Operational Meteor.

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“…Very few of the installed SPVS in the Bamenda Municipality had protective devices installed. Te absence of these protective devices does not guarantee the reliability of the SPVS and safety of both the user and the system [36]. Te absence of protective devices in the SPVS system, alongside inappropriate dimensioning of the SPVS indicates the need for capacity building and certifcation of technician involved in SPVS installation in the municipality [37].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technical Evaluation of Photovoltaic Systems in the Bamenda Municipality of the North West Region of Cameroon

Mungwe,

Alombah,

Ajesam

et al. 2024

Journal of Renewable Energy

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In the Bamenda Municipality of Cameroon households are adopting Solar Photovoltaic Systems (SPVS). The penetration of SPVS in this Municipality depends on their technical performance. The study aimed to evaluate the technical installation of SPVS within the Municipality. A field inspection and administration of a questionnaire was conducted. The field inspection evaluated the respect of technical installation norms for SPVS. The questionnaire captured data on the technical situation of the SPVS. The SPVS installed included PV and grid to power separate loads, and PV and grid to power same loads. The installed loads were a mix of AC and DC loads of capacity from 360 W to 10000 W. The load powered by the installed SPVS varied from 300 W to 7000 W. The PV array varied from 200 W to 3200 W and battery bank capacity of 100 Ah to 800 Ah. The PV arrays were mostly installed on roof tops. Only 5% of the SPVS were installed by certified personnel. More than 50% of the installed SPVS operated below designed operation time. Failures in installed systems were related to inverters (36 %) and battery banks (36 %). Most of the PV arrays were installed on rooftops at tilt angles between 20° and 50°. More than 50 % of the PV arrays were oriented to directions other than South. Protective devices were installed in only 14 % of the installed systems. Some of the SPVS were not properly dimensioned. It may be concluded that most of the installed SPVS do not respect the technical installation norms and were not dimensioned according to users’ needs. The survival and penetration of SPVS technology in the Bamenda Municipality, Cameroon, and other sub-Saharan communities requires awareness and capacity building, policies, and regulations in the design and installation of this technology.

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“…In addition, due to their physical structure and installation locations in wide open areas, they are vulnerable to direct or indirect lightning strikes. The probability of lightning strikes is higher, especially in large-scale systems with large PV arrays [10] and wind turbines (WTs) with higher structures [11,12]. A generated induced overvoltage during a lightning strike can damage the equipment in hybrid RE systems, such as PV modules, converters, inverters, generators, transformers, control systems [13,14], meters, and data networks, which include sensors and transducers, or decrease PV system efficiency by affecting the IeV and PeV characteristics of the module [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigation of Lightning-Induced Transient Effects on a Hybrid Photovoltaic–Wind System Based on Lightning Protection Standards

et al. 2023

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Installing surge protection devices in a hybrid photovoltaic (PV)–wind system is essential to guarantee the survival of the system’s components. If the surge arresters are connected without taking into account the recommendations given by standards, the equipment to be protected might be damaged despite the energy coordination of the arresters. In this study, nonlinear surge protective devices (SPDs) are designed for a multi-MW hybrid system based on lightning protection standards with optimised threat level ratings to investigate the mitigation of lightning transients to an acceptable level. The system is implemented using Power System Computer-Aided Design for Electromagnetic Transients including Direct Current (PSCAD/EMTDC) software. It comprises a 2 MW PV farm, a 2 MW wind farm, and a backup energy storage system (ESS), which are all connected to a 132 kV grid via a step-up transformer and a transmission line. The results were obtained at critical system nodes for two standard lightning current surges, i.e., 1/10 µs and 10/350 µs, considering two lightning strike point scenarios with and without a lightning protection system (LPS). The simulation results showed that the connected SPDs could successfully limit the transient overvoltage in the system to an acceptable level. The analysis in this work is crucial for designing, operating, and maintaining a hybrid PV–wind system. It can help to find the potential vulnerability areas within such a system and implement appropriate protection measures since there is no available lightning standard for such systems. Additionally, it assists the system operators in increasing the uptime and dependability of their RE systems, limiting expensive downtime and environmental effects while optimising energy output. Based on the results obtained, recommendations were made for lightning protection developers.

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Lightning protection of PV systems

Cited by 30 publications

References 27 publications

Colorado Lightning Climatology

Colorado Lightning Climatology

Technical Evaluation of Photovoltaic Systems in the Bamenda Municipality of the North West Region of Cameroon

Mitigation of Lightning-Induced Transient Effects on a Hybrid Photovoltaic–Wind System Based on Lightning Protection Standards

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