Lightning Activities in the DOE-EPRI Turbine Verification Program
- Global Energy Concepts, LLC
- McNiff Light Industry
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The US Department of Energy (DOE)-Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Turbine Verification Program (TVP) has played a vital role in improving the understanding of lightning protection for wind turbines. In response to concerns from host utilities, the TVP began a lightning protection project to study the impact of lightning activity at the 6.0-megawatt (MW) wind power facility in Ft. Davis, Texas. McNiff Light Industry (MLI) and Global Energy Concepts (GEC) established a broad observation and documentation effort to survey the lightning protection methodologies used and to evaluate the damage resulting from lightning activity at the turbines. The 6.05-MW wind power plant in Searsburg, Vermont, was inspected after a severe lightning storm caused damage to several turbines there. Zond, McNiff, and consultants from Lightning Technologies, Inc. conducted post-damage inspections at both sites to develop recommendations for improving lightning protection. Site operators implemented the recommended mitigation strategies, and the turbines were monitored to determine if the protection measures improved project operations. This paper summarizes the experience gained through TVP's lightning-related research, and provides a set of guidelines for wind turbine manufacturers, owners, and operators.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-99GO10337
- OSTI ID:
- 763428
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/CP-500-28604; TRN: AH200033%%174
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: American Wind Energy Association's WindPower 2000, Palm Springs, CA (US), 04/30/2000--05/05/2000; Other Information: PBD: 11 Sep 2000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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