Contribution to the study of the aggression of lightning phenomenon on the wind turbine structures

Abstract

Because of the complexity of the lightning phenomenon in the physical and electrical aspects, the aggression of lightning strokes on the wind turbines has become, for many years, one of the main causes for insurance agencies of these new electric generation systems. Wind turbines have important dimensions of structures, where they can easily attract lightning and his anger, the effect of heights also captures the farthest lightning. The rotation of the blades may also trigger lightning and result in considerable increase in the number of strikes to a wind turbine unit. Since wind turbines are tall structures, the lightning currents that are injected by return strokes into the turbines will be affected by reflections at the top, at the bottom, and at the junction of the blades with the static base of the turbine. Despite the protection in place in wind turbines, statistics show that they are inefficient, because they are placed in locations where repair is difficult and expensive. In this article, we study lightning strikes and their effects on wind turbines and propose other useful elements in the design of efficient wind turbines and optimal ways to protect them against direct and indirect lightning strikes.