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Lightning performance study for photovoltaic systems

Conference Paper · August 2015

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 The 19th International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering, Pilsen, Czech Republic, August, 23 – 28, 2015

LIGHTNING PERFORMANCE STUDY FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS

1 2 2 3 2* 1
C.A. Christodoulou , V.T. Kontargyri , K. Damianaki , A.C. Kyritsis , I.F. Gonos and N.P. Papanikolaou
1
Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, 67100 – GREECE
2
National Technical University of Athens, School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, 15780 – GREECE
3
CRES (Centre for Renewable Energy Sources), PV Systems and DER Department, 19009 – GREECE
*Email: <igonos@cs.ntua.gr>

Abstract: Photovoltaic (PV) systems, due to their installation position, are exposed to
lightning discharges, which can damage their equipment (PV modules, inverters, etc.),
resulting malfunctions on the entire system, high repair costs and financial losses. The
severity of the lightning consequences depends on the characteristics of the lightning
current waveform, the geometry of the installation, the selection of the lightning protection
system and the hit position. The steepness of the lightning current and the dimensions of
the formed loop (i.e. line routing, length of circuit, distance between protective earth
conductors and active wires) determine the level of the induced overvoltage. For this
reason, large surface loops must be avoided, by designing appropriately the configuration
of the system. In the current work, a PV installation of 100KWp is examined, in order to
calculate the developed overvoltages, considering two possible geometric structures.

1 INTRODUCTION is strongly depended on the system configuration,

Lightning is a common reason of faults and
interruptions in photovoltaic (PV) systems, since
they are regularly exposed to direct and indirect
lightning effects. Overvoltages and impulse
currents in PV systems can cause damages to
equipment (modules, inverters, cables, etc),
resulting to serious consequences for the
operation of the system, high repair costs and
considerable profit cuts. The above problems are
more intense in case of stand-alone PV systems,
where there is not alternative power supply of the
electrical installation. To protect a PV-system for a
direct lightning stroke is very difficult due to the
extremely high energy content of the lightning
stroke. In such a case the PV array metal structure
will be destroyed due to thermal overloading, while
PV modules will be deformed due to the pressure
of expanding air or at least PVs will present
insulation damages. For this reason external
lightning protection systems (LPS) in combination
with surge protective devices are installed, in order
to prevent any partial lightning current flowing
within the PV system [1, 2]. The effectiveness of
the LPS depends on a series of factors, i.e.
grounding, geometrical and electrical
characteristics of the equipment, the neighbouring
installations etc [3, 4].
The current work deals with the appropriate design
of ground mounted PV systems in order to improve
their lightning performance and reduce the surge
failures, emphasizing the role of the grounding
resistance and the system configuration with
respect to IEC 62305 [5-8] and IEC 61173 [9]. It is
worth mentioning that the lightning current that hits
the LPS of a PV installation may induce
considerable voltages in the conductor loops of the
strings, which may exceed the withstand voltage of
the equipment. The surface of the conductor loops
i.e. the number of the panels and the strings, the
geometrical characteristics and conductor’s length.
These transient overvoltages may cause defects in
power electronics equipment such as the
photovoltaic inverters and communication systems.
To this direction, touch and induced overvoltages
due to lightning hits will be studied, considering
two different configurations of the examined
system. Both are formed by the same number of
PV modules but exhibit different geometric
structure. Thus, although the voltage, current and
power values of the strings are the same (under
normal PV plant operationconditions), the surfaces
contained by the formed loops are different. The
theoretical analysis will be performed by using an
appropriate simulation tool. The extracted results
are expected to be a guide for the efficient design
of the PV systems topologies, increasing their
reliability and contributing to the improvement of
their lightning performance.
2 LIGHTNING PROTECTION OF PV
A typical photovoltaic system consists of PV
modules (solar panels), supported by a metallic
(aluminium or galvanized steel) construction,
grounded by pillars. The solar panels are
connected in series or parallel strings; the DC
feeder of the photovoltaic field is connected to the
power inverter, which converts DC to AC voltage,
and is also connected to the electric utility grid with
or without the presence of a power transformer [2].
PV systems, due to their installation position, are
exposed to atmospheric discharges. Direct or
indirect lightning surges can damage the
equipment of the PV system (PV modules,
inverters, etc.), arising malfunctions on the entire
system. Moreover, high repair costs and financial
losses due to a system failure have to be
considered. The significance of the repercussions
depends on the characteristics of the lightning
current waveform, the geometry of the installation
and the hit position. For this reason, a damage risk
assessment according to [6] is necessary to be
performed, in order to determine the need of the
lightning protection and to design the lightning
protection system.
Lightning protection system includes external and
internal parts; external lightning protection is
intended to intercept lightning and divert it into the
grounding system. It consists of air termination
system, down-conductors and earth termination
system. The designer of the lightning protection
system may choose either air termination and
down conductor system attached with the PV or air
termination and down conductor system non-
attached from the PV (Fig.1). It is noted here that
the frames of PVs are grounded to the metallic
structure (there is electrical continuity between PVs
frame and metallic structure). An non-attached
lightning protection system consist of a mast,
installed away from the PV at a distance greater
than:
(1)
where: ki is a constant that depends on the
selected class of the lightning protection
system
km is a constant that depends on the
insulation
kc is a constant that depends on the
lightning current flowing in the air
termination and the down conductor
(a) (b)
Figure 1: Non Attached (a) and attached (b)
external lightning protection system
If the grounded pillar construction is connected
directly to the lightning protection system, direct
flashes will flow into the grounded metallic
construction. Depending on the hit position, the
peak of the lightning current and the grounding, a
significant potential difference between the PV
modules and the cables can be developed that
may exceed the insulation level of the equipment.
Moreover, partial lightning currents may flow into
the DC system due to uncontrolled flashovers [2].
Internal lightning protection system includes
equipotential bonding and electrical insulation
between the various parts, in order to prevent
dangerous sparking. Furthermore, the magnetic
field created by the lightning currents flowing in the
neighboring LPS may induce considerable
voltages in any conductor loop, which results in
corresponding impulse currents if these conductor
loops are closed [1]; for this reason, the protection
of the electrical and the electronic equipment of the
PV installation against Lightning Electro Magnetic
Pulse (LEMP) includes grounding, equipotential
bonding, magnetic shielding, line routing, isolating
interfaces and application of surge protective
devices (SPDs [7, 10].
3 INDUCED OVERVOLTAGES
The magnetic field (due to the lightning discharge
current) around the flash channel and the down
conductors of the LPS results to the development
of induced overvoltages in the wiring loops of the
PV installation; these induction loops can include
only active wires or both live and protective
conductors. Furthermore, the internal loop of each
PV panel has to be taken into consideration (Fig.2)
[10].
Figure 2: Induction loops formed in a PV
installation
The magnitude of the developed surges depends
on the lightning characteristics, the geometrical
characteristics of the PV system and the position of
the stroke hit. In details, the steepness of the
lightning current determines the level of the
induced overvoltage, since the induced voltages
are proportional to the self inductance of the loop
multiplied by the steepness of the lightning current
[6]. Induced overvoltages increase also with
dimensions of the loop (i.e. line routing, length of
circuit, distance between protective earth
conductors and active wires) and decrease with
attenuation of the magnetic field strength [8]. As far
as the hit position concerns, the severity of the
overvoltage is inversely proportional to the
distance of the point of impact [11].
The induced surges are transmitted to DC input of
the inverter and may damage the PV electrical and
electronic equipment. For this reason, large
surface loops must be avoided, by designing
appropriately the configuration of the system
(Fig.3) [11]. This must be observed when
connecting the d.c. circuits to a string and several
strings with one another and when connecting the
inverter to the mains connection [13]. [8] and [9]
suggest the reduction of the induction phenomena
on both circuits (AC and DC) of the PV system.
(a) (b)
Figure 3: Reduction of the surface loop areas
To this direction, the length of the cables must be
as short as possible; for example, in the DC side of
the PV system the reduction of the cable length of
the positive and negative poles is a realistic target;
these wires can also be twisted together, in order
to reduce the surface of the loop. In the AC side,
the avoidance of large loop surfaces can also be
achieved, using the same techniques. The junction
box of each PV module complicates the restriction
of the loop surface, since the interconnection
cables (positive and negative poles) are spaced
approximately 10cm from each other and their
length is about 1m [13].
4 SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
In the current work a PV installation of 100KWp is
examined, in order to calculate the developed
touch and induced overvoltages, considering two
possible geometric structures. The power of each
panel is 250Wp (polycrystalline-Si PV moduleare
considered); moreover, five inverters of 20kW are
used. So, 80 PV nodules are assigned in each
inverter, forming four strings with equal number of
PVs.Τhe specific electrical configuration enjoys
wide acceptance compares to configurations with
fewer and higher power level converters (ιn PV
plants of this size), since allows the assign of fewer
PVs per Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT).
Thus, an overall better performance is likely to be
achieved due to the limitation of the power losses
that caused by the mismatch between the PV
modules (optimal adjustment between the PV
modules and the inverter).
Fig. 4 illustrates the geometrical characteristics of
each panel; while Fig. 5 and 6 depict the geometric
structure of each examined case. It is noted here
that each inverters has four identical strings, which
in pairs are connected to separate inverter DC
input. Considering the electrical characteristics of a
typical poly-Si module, the nominal operational
voltage of each string will be roughly equal to
620Vat Standard Test Conditions (STC), while the
maximum sting voltage expected to be no more
than 850V (for winter cold mornings with ambient
o
temperature equal to -10 C). The exact value of
maximum string voltage depends on the
environmental conditions and takes place at string
open circuit condition (PVs do not produce
power).Moreover, the corresponding nominal
operational current and the maximum sort circuited
current values of each string expected to be 8.25A
and 8.9A respectively. Beyond, according to PV
module and inverter manufacturers the maximum
permissible single string DC voltage should be
lower than 1kV at any conditions
Figure 4: Dimensional characteristics of the used
panel
In case 1 (Fig.5 ), the circuit configuration restrains
2
the area of the formed loops (approximately 2m );
disadvantage of this topology is that there is an
2
need for long length DC cable (cross-section 6mm
to limit the power dissipation). In details, each
inverter demands 76m (4x19m) of DC cable
2
(6mm ) increasing so the installation cost.
Figure 5: Single string geometric structure of case
1
In case 2 (Fig. 6), the loop surface is intensively
2
higher (approximately 16.3m ), but there is no
need to use extra DC cables to form (closing) the
string loop. The non-need to use extra DC cables
leads not only leads at lower power losses (at the
cables), but also becomes more economical
solution for the contractor.

Figure 9: Simulation model for 3d representation

of case 1

Fig. 10 presents the developed touch voltage for

the examined topologies. The calculated
overvoltage rises to 21kV (approximately) for both
cases, indicative that touch voltage is independent
on the developed loop surface. Touch voltages are
influenced by the peak current of the lightning flash
and the achieved grounding resistance.

Figure 6: Single string geometric structure of case

2

5 SIMULATION RESULTS

A lightning performance study for the

configurations of Figs. 5 and 6 was carried out, by
using CDEGS (Current Distribution,
Electromagnetic Fields, Grounding and Soil
Structure Analysis) software package. Fig. 7 and 8
present the string geometric structure of case 1
and case 2, correspondingly, designed in CDEGS. (a) (b)
The developed overvoltages are measured in
different axes (see non continuous lines – profiles) Figure 10: Developed touch voltage for case 1 (a)
in various positions away from the lightning hit and case 2 (b) (lightning current 50kA, 10/350μs)
position (the origin of profile corresponds to the left
point of each axis). The lightning flash (50kA, In contrast, the developed induced overvoltages
10/350μs) hits the non isolated air termination are strongly depended on the loop areas; in case 2
conductor, since the soil resistivity is equal to the simulation outcomes are significantly higher
100Ωm. (double) in comparison with case 1, where the area
of the formed loop is small. Except from the loop
surface, the lightning current steepness (kA/μs)
also affects the expected induced surges.

Figure 7: Simulation model for case 1

Figure 8: Simulation model for case 2

Fig. 9 depicts the 3d representation of the case 1, (a) (b)

where the metallic supporting construction and the
air termination rod are shown. Figure 11: Developed induced voltage for case 1
(a) and case 2 (b) (lightning current 50kA,
10/350μs)
 5 CONCLUSIONS [10] J.C. Hernández, P.G. Vidal, F. Jurado:
“Lightning and Surge Protection in Photovoltaic
In the current work, the lightning performance of a Installations”, IEEE Transactions on Power
PV installation of 100kWp is discussed, examining Delivery, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 1961-1971, 2008
different string geometric structures. Simulation
[11] International Energy Agency Implementing
procedures were performed, by using appropriate
Agreement on Photovoltaic Power Systems,
computer tool and the developed touch and
Report IEA PVPS T3-14: “Common practices
induced overvoltages were estimated. The
for protection against the effects of lightning on
lightning characteristics (peak current, front time),
stand-alone photovoltaic systems”, 2003.
the lightning hit position, the LPS, the formed loop
surface, the soil resistivity are critical factors that [12] Dehn: “Lightning Protection Guide”, 2nd
strongly influence the range of the developed edition, 2012.
surges. Future work includes a comprehensive
[13] G.L. Amicucci, F. Fiamingo, "Lightning Risk to
sensitivity analysis, concerning all the above
Photovoltaic Power Generating Systems",
crucial parameters. Final scope is the appropriate
Prevention Today Vol. 5, pp. 51-65, January-
design of the system, in order to form well defined
June 2009.
ground paths for the lighting current and reduce
the effect of overvoltages to acceptable levels.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work has been supported by ΙΚΥ fellowships
of excellence for postgraduate studies in Greece –
SIEMENS Program.

REFERENCES
[1] J. Birkl, P. Zahlmann: "Specific Requirements
on SPDs installed on the DC-Side of PV-
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[2] Z. Benesova, R. Haller, J. Birkl, P. Zahlmann:
"Overvoltages in Photovoltaic Systems Induced
by Lightning Strikes", ICLP 2012, Vienna.
[3] J.C. Hernandez, P.G. Vidal, F. Jurado:
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Installations", IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, Vol.23, no.4, pp.1961-1971, 2008.
[4] C.A. Charalambous, N. D. Kokkinos, N.
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[5] IEC Std.62305-1: “Protection against
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[6] IEC Std. 62305-2: “Protection against
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[7] IEC Std. 62305-3: “Protection against
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[8] IEC Std. 62305-4Q “Protection against
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