Integrating the loss of economic value in lightning-related risk assessments of large scale photovoltaic systems participating in regulated and competitive energy markets

Abstract

Large-scale Photovoltaic (PV) systems can be vulnerable to lightning due to the large areas their installation occupies and because of the volume of their constituent electrical and electronic equipment. Thus, the need for installing appropriate Lightning Protection Systems (LPS) is increasingly acknowledged, especially in PV plants that will be participating in regulated and liberalised energy markets. To this aim, the selection of adequate lightning protection measures should be determined by utilizing methods that are also able to assess the risk of equipment damage that may lead in subsequent loss of revenue. However, no specific standardized methods, for managing the lightning-related risk in large scale PV systems, currently exists. Therefore, the first objective of this paper is to assimilate existing standardized risk assessment methods to conform to large PV systems' explicit features. The second and most important objective is to propose a method for integrating the loss of revenue in risk management endeavors associated with lightning protection.