The use of wind turbine structure for lightning protection system

Indonesa has a very good location for the source of renewable energy from wind. Wind turbin need a toll structure to get the good turbin performance. Indonesa is located at the equator and has lightning characteristic differ from the characteristic measured in sub-tropical region. The later one are used as the basic data for the international lightning protection standards. This research was carried out to evaluate the protection system for protecting the components of wind turbined againts tropical direct lightning strike to the structures or wing blades. The characteristic of structure and its components were analysized. Lightning strikes hit the blade as the highest structures of the turbine and the lightning current distributed through the components and dispersed it to the grounding systems. Due to the fact that the location of this wind turbine is in the tropical area such as Nusa Penida in Bali, the tropical lightning characteristic play an important role to determine the protection system for the components and the structures. This study analyze the protection system that allow the current flow to the grounding system without disturbing the electric converter, mechanics, and electronics performance of the turbine by using their own structures. Local lightning characteristics in the region and the protections system design were derived from this study according to the frame of IEC standards with the use of tropical lighning parameters.