why ESE lighting protection important.
This article shows a 5-year performance review of an early streamer emission (ESE) air terminal lightning protection system for a large-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plant. The differentiation of a Franklin lightning protection system and the ESE lightning protection system was evaluated for the PV power plant. The ESE lightning protection system was preferred to be executed in the PV power plant. In an area of 150, 000 m 2 , the calculated total capacity of the PV power plant was 8 MWp in Phetchaburi Province of Western Thailand. A Franklin-type lightning rod was also planned to be executed in this PV power plant. The Franklin-type lightning rod involved 122 pieces; however, the ESE-type lightning rod involved only 11 pieces. The technical design of the Franklin-type rod followed the standard of the Council of Engineers, Thailand, while the ESE-type lightning rod followed the NFC17102 standard of France. The approximate cost of installation was a basic differentiation to choose the lightning protection system. The total installation cost of the Franklin-type lightning rod was USD 197, 363.60, while that of the ESE-type lightning rod was USD 44, 338.16. The lightning structure was applied to the lightning arrester in the power plant to give fine protection, through which the equity of the pole to the mounting position is needed to improve the system performance. The outcome of the simulation also displayed that the shading effects of the Franklin-type rod were larger than those of the ESE-type rod. The installation cost of the Franklin-type lightning rod was 4.45 times more costly than that of the ESE-type lightning rod. Thus, the ESE lightning protection system was preferred to be applied in the PV power plant. From the list of recorded data of the 5-year (2016–2020) performance of the ESE lightning protection system, there were three incidents of a lightning strike on the PV power plant. The ESE lightning protection system more effectively protected and prevented the lightning strike to the PV power plant. Thus, this analysis can help with and support the choice of a lightning system for the protection of broad-scale PV power plants in the future
Keywords
data
list
pole
area
8 MWp
choice
future
equity
France
outcome
article
Council
150, 000
analysis
Engineers
11 pieces
122 pieces
simulation
ESE-type rod
5-year (2016
total capacity
shading effects
three incidents
fine protection
lightning strike
approximate cost
lightning system
technical design
Western Thailand
2020) performance
mounting position
NFC17102 standard
Franklin-type rod
lightning arrester
system performance
lightning structure
Phetchaburi Province
basic differentiation
ESE-type lightning rod
early streamer emission
total installation cost
ESE lighting protection
5-year performance review
broad-scale PV power plants
A Franklin-type lightning rod
The Franklin-type lightning rod
The ESE lightning protection system
Franklin lightning protection system
large-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plant
ESE) air terminal lightning protection system
