The extension of PV farms across large terrain exposed to hazardous climatic conditions has threatened their reliable performance as a renewable energy source. One of those major threats to PV farms is lightning strikes. In this paper, a PV system was subjected to double-peaked lightning strikes that were based on real-life recordings of lightning cases. The system was modeled using PSCAD software. The main contribution of this paper is the inclusion of double-peaked lightning strikes rather than regular single-peaked strikes usually used in lightning impact studies. In addition to that, the study relies on real-life recordings for lightning strike events at Mount San Salvatore and Morro do Cachimbo stations. The simulation results for both recorded double-peaked strikes showed the ability of the surge protection devices to provide adequate protection levels for the PV farm against these strikes in terms of their ability to withstand the overvoltage and absorb the energy injected with the strikes. |
