During Storm weathers, thunder sometimes bring a lot of damage to home appliances which are related to electricity, including solar systems on your roof. In this article, Raytech Engineering team will offer some design suggestions for you to avoid damages brought to your solar system by lightning.

The Harm of Thunder and Lightning

Lightning is a strong discharge phenomenon between thunderstorm clouds and between thunderstorm clouds and the earth caused by severe convective weather. Thunderstorms occur in about 2000 places at any time in the world, with an average of 8 million times of lightning per day, and each lightning emits about 55 kWh of energy in microseconds. Lightning disasters in nature mainly include direct lightning strike, lightning induced high voltage and lightning electromagnetic pulse radiation (LEMP). It damages the buildings and transmission lines on the discharge channel, kills and injures people and animals with strong impact current, hot high temperature, violent shock wave and strong electromagnetic radiation. However, the lightning electromagnetic pulse occurs quietly, which is not easy to detect, and the consequences are more serious.

There are three main ways for lightning to cause disasters to ground objects, namely, direct lightning strike, lightning induction and lightning wave invasion, which should be prevented in design. As the design of lightning protection should consider both safety and economic factors, it is more reasonable to take different lightning protection measures according to different categories. In the lightning protection design of photovoltaic power station, lightning rod must be erected first to prevent direct lightning damage to photovoltaic power station. At the same time, lightning induction and lightning wave intrusion into solar power generation system must also be considered.

Lightning Protection of Solar Power Generation System

Due to the high cost of solar cell modules and inverters, in order to avoid the economic losses caused by lightning and surge, effective lightning and surge protection is essential.

l  The first level power lightning protection device is installed between solar module and inverter or power regulator for protection. This is the main way for the power supply line to enter the room from the outside, so the protection of lightning electromagnetic pulse must be done well.

l  The secondary power lightning protector is installed between the inverter and the power distribution panel for protection.

l  The third level power supply lightning arrester is installed between the power distribution panel and the load to protect the load equipment from being damaged by surge overvoltage.

l  All lightning protection devices must be well grounded, and the grounding of all equipment is connected to the public grounding network.

Raytech’s all range of solar panels have obtained TUV Certifications and other safety testing including lightning protection test, the high quality and consistent product performance have been widely recognized globally. In 2021, Raytech will continue to focus on providing high-quality solar panels and 24/7 service to our clients.