Lightning Performance Improvement of a 9 MW Photovoltaic Power Plant Connected to a 23 kV Distribution Network

Lightning is one of the main electric hazards a photovoltaic is subjected to. This is due to the large collection area of the plant itself and to the incoming electric lines connected to the plant. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate in what cases LV/MV step-up transformers of the PV farm must be protected against overvoltages after a potential lightning strike event. This paper stabilises the lightning assessment simulation process by implementing a computer-based model in EMTP® based on the real engineering design of a 9MW PV plant connected to a 23 kV distribution grid in Chile.