Turbines shoot upside-down lightning

Puig, Juan Montañá; Velde, Oscar Arnoud Van der; Williams, Earle

doi:10.1038/506268a

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Similarly, it has been hypothesized (Rachidi et al., 2008) and later confirmed by observations (Montanyà, 2014) that a rotating wind turbine blade is more likely to initiate upward lightning compared to a still one. This is due to the fact that there is less time for the corona charge to build up as the object is moving and any corona charges that are generated are left behind by the moving blade tip.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 54%

On the Initiation of Upward Negative Lightning by Nearby Lightning Activity: An Analytical Approach

et al. 2021

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Upward lightning occurs generally from tall structures. The mechanism of the initiation of upward lightning is not yet fully understood. Upward lightning can be classified into two categories based on either the absence or the presence of other lightning activity prior to the upward flash. This work proposes an explanation of how upward lightning flashes can be triggered by nearby lightning activity. It is generally thought that the lightning activity prior to the flash will intensify the electric field at the tip of the tall structures. However, to the best of our knowledge, no attempt has been made to evaluate theoretically this hypothesis. In this paper, we derive analytically the electric field enhancement on the ground (or at the top of tall structures) based on different triggering scenarios. These fields are later used in a simplified corona model to evaluate if they are able to trigger upward lightning. It is shown that both slow processes such as leader propagation and faster return strokes can trigger an upward negative flash from relatively short structures of a few tens of meters, even without any slowly varying background electric field. This study confirms theoretically experimental observations and it provides new insights into the mechanisms of initiation of upward flashes from tall structures.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 54%

On the Initiation of Upward Negative Lightning by Nearby Lightning Activity: An Analytical Approach

et al. 2021

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Economic and sustainability promises of wind energy considering the impacts of climate change and vulnerabilities to extreme conditions

Zhang

et al. 2019

The Electricity Journal

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On the Influence of an Elevated Terrain on the Grounding Resistance of a Vertical Rod

Šunjerga

Rachidi

Rubinstein

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering and 2019 IEEE Industrial and Commercial Power Syst

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In this paper, we analyze the grounding resistance of a vertical grounding rod located in an elevated terrain. Tall structures such as wind turbines and mobile phone base stations are often installed in remote and hilly locations to gain more power or to facilitate line of sight to end users. Those locations are at an increased risk of being struck by lightning due to the greater elevation compared to their surroundings. These hilly areas are usually very rocky with low soil conductivity. A proper grounding system is therefore of paramount importance. In this study, we analyze the influence of the elevated terrain considering a simplified cone and a truncated cone geometries as a function of the apex angle and top radius. It is shown that the grounding resistance can be significantly increased both, in the case of small mounds of only a few meters height, and in the case of a high hill or a mountain.

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Turbines shoot upside-down lightning

Abstract: Wind turbines emit lightning flashes upwards,\ud producing these electrical discharges at regular\ud intervals relative to the turbine’s rotation, and\ud can do so tens of kilometres away from an active\ud thunderstorm area.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

On the Initiation of Upward Negative Lightning by Nearby Lightning Activity: An Analytical Approach

On the Initiation of Upward Negative Lightning by Nearby Lightning Activity: An Analytical Approach

Economic and sustainability promises of wind energy considering the impacts of climate change and vulnerabilities to extreme conditions

On the Influence of an Elevated Terrain on the Grounding Resistance of a Vertical Rod

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