Comprehensive transient analysis on control system in a photovoltaic power plant under lightning strike

Abstract

Solar power plants are installed in high and open places to receive high solar radiation. However, this leaves them vulnerable to lightning strike. Lightning strike affects power plants in two ways, directly and indirectly. Direct lightning strikes can be prevented by using lightning protection systems. However, under the indirect effect of a lightning strike, the surrounding electronic devices may be damaged due to the induced voltage. In a solar power plant with a lightning protection system in Turkey, it was stated that the bypass diodes failed after a lightning strike. In this study, it is aimed to examine the effects of indirect lightning strike on the PV module. For this reason, different lightning pulse amplitudes were injected into the system and the effects of three parameters on the induced voltage were investigated with an EMT type program. These parameters were the cable lengths, cable cross-sections and the number of PV arrays. Four different panel configurations were performed in the EMT type program. Data was taken from the solar power plant in Turkey was used in fourth configuration. It was concluded that when the lightning strike fell on the air termination bar, bypass diodes in the nearest PV array were affected, and this effect decreased as the array distance increased. However, as the amplitude of the lightning strike increased, arrays in the far-distance were also affected. It has been seen that the results obtained were compatible with the malfunction information received from the solar power plant.