Practical experience from industry on the lightning protection of solar PV modules

This paper reports the practical experience from industry on the performance of the lightning protection of solar PV modules, which are necessarily installed in the open. The conventional practice as per the current industry experience is to use the support frame of the solar PV module for the passage of the lightning current should it be struck. Hence, the support frames are bonded to the lightning protection system installed. This leaves other parts of the PV modules vulnerable to direct lightning strikes with the result of the lightning current flowing through the DC cable rather than the lightning protection tapes that are bonded to the frame. This, therefore, results in the electronic AC/DC invertor being subject to the direct lightning current and against which they are not protected. The paper will provide examples of such incidents and will consider and discuss how best to avoid such penetration of direct lightning in future installations. The paper will also recommend that the industrial experience be considered during the next update of the Standard when referring to protection of solar PV modules against lightning. With the current global initiative to maximise renewable energy systems it is even more important to ensure that the systems are fail safe and can last their economic life thereby delivering the desired savings.