Surge Protection For Wind Generation Facilities

Surge Protective Devices (SPDs), intended to afford protection from electrical surges and spikes, including those caused directly and indirectly by lightning, are utilized as both complete devices and as components within electrical equipment installed in AC and DC power applications.

Wind turbine converts the wind's kinetic energy into electrical energy. . Arrays of large turbines, known as wind farms, are becoming an increasingly important source of renewable energy and are used by many countries as part of a strategy to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

Wind turbines are tall, isolated towers composed of sensitive electronics, all of which are factors that make lightning a persistent and real threat. A properly installed lightning protection system, however, will intercept the lightning and effectively and safely conduct it to the earth without risking physical destruction to the wind turbine. This issue has become increasingly critical as wind turbine systems become more sophisticated and vulnerable to lightning, and that lightning dangers will increase with turbine height.

According to the updated National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) handbook:“While physical blade damage is the most expensive and disruptive damage caused by lightning, by far the most common is damage to the control system”. In Wind turbine system, there are many vulnerable electronics equipments which be damaged by lightning strikes or and transient over-voltages, such as:

· The control system, include sensors, actuators, and the motors for steering the equipment into the wind etc.

· The electronics, include transformer, frequency converter, switchgear elements, and other expensive, sensitive equipment. 

· And Generators, battery subsystem etc.

Properly installed surge protective devices (SPDs) will minimize the potential impact of lightning events,

Main reference

UL96A: Standard for Installation Requirements for Lightning Protection Systems

UL 1449 4th: Standard for Surge Protective Devices

IEC 61643-11: Low-voltage surge protective devices - Part 11: Surge protective devices connected to low-voltage power systems - Requirements and test methods

IEC 61400-24:2010 Wind turbines - Part 24: Lightning protection

Note: SP860/3PT-S is specifically designed for protecting the rotor winding of the generator and the supply line of the inverter. An additional spark gap module is used for potential isolation and to prevent that the MOV based modules operate prematurely due to high voltage tolerances and voltage fluctuations.