Lightning Shielding with Shading Avoidance for a Photovoltaic (PV) Farm

Abstract

The special requirement of a PV farm lightning shielding system is that it should not introduce shadow on the active PV surfaces so as to avoid impaired PV generation output. By using a simple, repeatable-unit PV row made up of single or multiple PV strings, the problem of finding a cost-effective and efficient PV row lightning finial arrangement can be resolved. The shading analysis combined with the MS IEC 62305 implementation of the Rolling Sphere Method (RSM) is able to give a simple procedure that lends itself to spreadsheet calculations pertaining to PV farm lightning shielding design.