Lightning Protection Study on 1 MW Cirata Solar PV Power Plant

Solar PV Power Plants require open and spacious land in order to operate optimally, which poses a threat due to lightning strikes. Statistically, the effect of lightning strikes is the second largest cause of damage to PV Plant with a percentage of 26%. Cirata 1 MW Solar Power Plant is owned by PT PLN Nusantara Power which has been operating for approximately 7 years since 2015. At that time, it was not known whether the existing initial design was in accordance with the theory and standards or not. Based on the evaluation by referring to standards such as IEC 62305, NFC 17–102 of 2011, and SNI 03-7015-2004, the air termination of the external lightning protection system only provides protection as far as 95.850 m which leaves some parts of the PV module unprotected. Then there is an electricity entry point from the PLN grid of 380 V AC to the PV Plant control room which is not equipped with a surge protection device. To get optimum protection againt lightning, the author proposed to replace the air termination with a protection radius of 112.081 m and shift the lightning rod tower 4 m to the east as external lightning protection. Then on the internal side it is recommended to install SPD 380 V AC Type I + II, with a maximum impulse current discharge of 50kA.