Protection of wind turbine against the lightning damage

Damages of wind turbines by lightning is currently one of the main sources of wind turbine insurance claims and downtime. Understanding the effects of lightning strikes has become increasingly important as the size and rated power of wind turbines increase and they are placed in locations where repair is difficult and costly. The wind turbines are important structures, since they can easily attract the wrath of storms hits heights close, they can also capture the most distant. 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. We present our contribution in this paper to study lightning strokes and their effects on the wind turbines with the aim to enrich the work and to suggest more effective means of protection against lightning.