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Are Solar Power Plants Affected by Lightning?

The answer to the question: Are Solar Power Plants Affected by Lightning? is simple; solar power plants are becoming increasingly common in our environment as they provide cheap and clean energy derived from the sun. However, the initial cost is often high, as the panels are quite expensive and it is necessary to protect them against adverse events such as lightning and voltage surges. Reliability and consistency are among the most important parameters when delivering energy to people and companies. Therefore, downtime must be minimized, even in extreme weather conditions.

Lightning

Lightning strikes are extremely powerful and can spread across an entire solar power plant in a fraction of a second, irreversibly damaging equipment. This can happen not only through power supply cables, but also through serial communication buses such as RS485 or RS232 copper wires. In a photovoltaic system, serial communication is almost always needed to remotely monitor the health status and efficiency parameters of panels and solar trackers using PPCs (Power Plant Controllers). Therefore, communication networks in solar power plants also need lightning protection.

Automatic Fault Detection with MapperX

MapperX artificial intelligence technology software is developed with image processing and machine learning techniques. MapperX automatically detects malfunctions of solar systems. Fault types are identified and marked on the map according to their severity. Solar Power Plants you can read our article