Characterizing wind turbine system response to lightning activity

Conference · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1998

OSTI ID:656849

McNiff, B; LaWhite, N ^[1]; Muljadi, E ^[2]

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1. McNiff Light Industry, Harborside, ME (United States)
2. National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)

A lightning protection research program was instituted by National Renewable Energy Laboratory to minimize lightning damage to wind turbines and to further the understanding of effective damage mitigation techniques. To that end, a test program is under way to observe lightning activity, protection system response, and damage at a wind power plant in the Department of Energy (DOE) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Turbine Verification Program. The authors installed Lightning activated surveillance cameras along with a special storm tracking device to observe the activity in the wind plant area. They instrumented the turbines with lightning and ground current detection devices to log direct and indirect strike activity at each unit. They installed a surge monitor on the utility interface to track incoming activity from the transmission lines. Maintenance logs are used to verify damage and determine downtime and repair costs. Actual strikes to turbines were recorded on video and ancillary devices. The test setup and some results are discussed in this paper.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States); McNiff Light Industry, Harborside, ME (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 656849
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP--500-24790; CONF-980437--; ON: DE98003907
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

17 WIND ENERGY
DAMAGE
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRIC GENERATORS
ELECTRIC GROUNDS
ELECTRICAL TRANSIENTS
LIGHTNING ARRESTERS
SURGES
WIND TURBINES