Lightning Surge Analysis on a Large Scale Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic System

Nur Hazirah Zaini, Mohd Zainal Abidin Ab. Kadir, Mohd Amran Mohd Radzi, Mahdi Izadi, Norhafiz Azis, Nor Izzati Ahmad and Mohd Solehin Mohd Nasir
Additional contact information
Nur Hazirah Zaini: Centre for Advanced Power and Energy Research (CAPER), Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Mohd Zainal Abidin Ab. Kadir: Centre for Advanced Power and Energy Research (CAPER), Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Mohd Amran Mohd Radzi: Centre for Advanced Power and Energy Research (CAPER), Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Mahdi Izadi: Centre for Advanced Power and Energy Research (CAPER), Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Norhafiz Azis: Centre for Advanced Power and Energy Research (CAPER), Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Nor Izzati Ahmad: Centre for Advanced Power and Energy Research (CAPER), Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Mohd Solehin Mohd Nasir: Department of Electrical & Elecronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM), Kem Sg. Besi, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-18

Abstract: Solar photovoltaic (PV) farms currently play a vital role in the generation of electrical power in different countries, such as Malaysia, which is moving toward the use of renewable energy. Malaysia is one of the countries with abundant sunlight and thus can use solar PV farms as alternative sources for electricity generation. However, lightning strikes frequently occur in the country. Being installed in open and flat areas, solar PV farms, especially their electronic components, are at great risk of damage caused by lightning. In this paper, the effects of lightning currents with different peak currents and waveshapes on grid-connected solar PV farms were determined to approximate the level of transient effect that can damage solar PV modules, inverters and transformers. Depending on the location of the solar PV farm, engineer can obtain information on the peak current and median current of the site from the lightning location system (LLS) and utilise the results obtained in this study to appropriately assign an SPD to protect the solar panel, inverter and the main panel that connected to the grid. Therefore, the simulation results serve as the basis for controlling the effects of lightning strikes on electrical equipment and power grids where it provides proper justification on the ‘where to be installed’ and ‘what is the rating’ of the SPD. This judgment and decision will surely reduce the expensive cost of repair and replacement of electrical equipment damages due to the lightning.

Keywords: solar Photovoltaic farm; solar Photovoltaic array; lightning current waveshapes; peak current; transient voltage; transient current (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/12/2149/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/10/12/2149/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:12:p:2149-:d:123058

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().