Abstract
A lightning protection research and support program has been instituted by NREL to help minimize lightning damage to wind turbines. The chief goal is to further the understanding of effective lightning damage mitigation techniques throughout the US wind industry. To that end, a test program has been instituted to observe lightning activity, system protection response and damage at a wind powerplant as part of the DOE/EPRI Turbine Verification Program. Lightning activated surveillance cameras were installed along with a special storm tracking device to observe the activity in the wind plant area. The turbines in the wind plant were instrumented with lightning current detection and ground current detection devices to log the direct and indirect strike activity at each unit. Also, asurge monitor was installed and activated on the site utility mains interface to track incoming activity from the transmission lines. Maintenance logs are used to verify damage, estimate the caused downtime and determine repair costs. Actual strikes to turbines have been recorded on video and the ancilliary devices. The test setup and preliminary data from the test are discussed in this paper.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 147-156 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| State | Published - 1998 |
| Event | 1998 ASME Wind Energy Symposium Technical 36th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit - Reno, Nevada Duration: 12 Jan 1998 → 15 Jan 1998 |
Conference
| Conference | 1998 ASME Wind Energy Symposium Technical 36th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit |
|---|---|
| City | Reno, Nevada |
| Period | 12/01/98 → 15/01/98 |
NREL Publication Number
- NREL/CP-500-25563