A Multiyear CONUS‐Wide Analysis of Lightning Strikes to Wind Turbines
ABSTRACT Lightning strikes to wind turbines (WTs) pose significant hazards and operational costs to the renewable wind industry. These strikes fall into two categories: downward cloud‐to‐ground (CG) strokes and upward discharges, which can be self‐initiated or triggered by a nearby flash. The incide...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Wind Energy |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/we.70000 |
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| author | Ryan Said Eric Grimit Martin Murphy |
| author_facet | Ryan Said Eric Grimit Martin Murphy |
| author_sort | Ryan Said |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Lightning strikes to wind turbines (WTs) pose significant hazards and operational costs to the renewable wind industry. These strikes fall into two categories: downward cloud‐to‐ground (CG) strokes and upward discharges, which can be self‐initiated or triggered by a nearby flash. The incidence of each type of strike depends on several factors, including the electrical structure of the thunderstorm and turbine height. The strike rates of CG strokes and triggered upward lightning can be normalized by the amount of local lightning activity, where the constant of proportionality carries units of area and is often termed the collection area. This paper introduces a statistical analysis technique that uses lightning locating system (LLS) data to estimate the collection areas for downward and triggered upward lightning strikes to WTs. The technique includes a normalization method that addresses the confounding factor of neighboring WTs. This analysis method is applied to 7 years of data from the National Lightning Detection NetworkTM and the US WT Database to investigate the dependence of collection areas on blade tip height. The results are compared against estimates of collection areas derived from counts of LLS‐detected CG strokes close to WTs. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6cf12a3c3e924dfca7be27fd6d575d7f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1095-4244 1099-1824 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Wind Energy |
| spelling | doaj-art-6cf12a3c3e924dfca7be27fd6d575d7f2025-08-20T02:45:37ZengWileyWind Energy1095-42441099-18242025-03-01283n/an/a10.1002/we.70000A Multiyear CONUS‐Wide Analysis of Lightning Strikes to Wind TurbinesRyan Said0Eric Grimit1Martin Murphy2Vaisala Inc. Louisville Colorado USAVaisala Inc. Seattle Washington USAVaisala Inc. Louisville Colorado USAABSTRACT Lightning strikes to wind turbines (WTs) pose significant hazards and operational costs to the renewable wind industry. These strikes fall into two categories: downward cloud‐to‐ground (CG) strokes and upward discharges, which can be self‐initiated or triggered by a nearby flash. The incidence of each type of strike depends on several factors, including the electrical structure of the thunderstorm and turbine height. The strike rates of CG strokes and triggered upward lightning can be normalized by the amount of local lightning activity, where the constant of proportionality carries units of area and is often termed the collection area. This paper introduces a statistical analysis technique that uses lightning locating system (LLS) data to estimate the collection areas for downward and triggered upward lightning strikes to WTs. The technique includes a normalization method that addresses the confounding factor of neighboring WTs. This analysis method is applied to 7 years of data from the National Lightning Detection NetworkTM and the US WT Database to investigate the dependence of collection areas on blade tip height. The results are compared against estimates of collection areas derived from counts of LLS‐detected CG strokes close to WTs.https://doi.org/10.1002/we.70000lightninglightning measurementsupward‐initiated lightningwind turbines |
| spellingShingle | Ryan Said Eric Grimit Martin Murphy A Multiyear CONUS‐Wide Analysis of Lightning Strikes to Wind Turbines Wind Energy lightning lightning measurements upward‐initiated lightning wind turbines |
| title | A Multiyear CONUS‐Wide Analysis of Lightning Strikes to Wind Turbines |
| title_full | A Multiyear CONUS‐Wide Analysis of Lightning Strikes to Wind Turbines |
| title_fullStr | A Multiyear CONUS‐Wide Analysis of Lightning Strikes to Wind Turbines |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Multiyear CONUS‐Wide Analysis of Lightning Strikes to Wind Turbines |
| title_short | A Multiyear CONUS‐Wide Analysis of Lightning Strikes to Wind Turbines |
| title_sort | multiyear conus wide analysis of lightning strikes to wind turbines |
| topic | lightning lightning measurements upward‐initiated lightning wind turbines |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/we.70000 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ryansaid amultiyearconuswideanalysisoflightningstrikestowindturbines AT ericgrimit amultiyearconuswideanalysisoflightningstrikestowindturbines AT martinmurphy amultiyearconuswideanalysisoflightningstrikestowindturbines AT ryansaid multiyearconuswideanalysisoflightningstrikestowindturbines AT ericgrimit multiyearconuswideanalysisoflightningstrikestowindturbines AT martinmurphy multiyearconuswideanalysisoflightningstrikestowindturbines |