Wind and solar power
For manufacturers, developers and operators who want to manage the risks generated by lightning and thunderstorms proactively.
Your requirements
All installations on wind farms and solar photovoltaic power plants are highly exposed to thunderstorms and lightning.
The risk is all the greater as wind farms and solar power plants are generally installed on open ground or at height. Once installed, turbines and panels become the highest points in the surrounding area, which increases the likelihood of direct impact.
To minimize material damage and avoid endangering your teams working outdoors, it is important to address these risks across the entire value chain, from the site design phase to repowering and operation and maintenance (O&M).
You are looking for reliable information and decision-making aid tools to:
- design and correctly size lightning protection for your turbines and solar panels,
- ensure the safety of your teams in the field,
- optimize the production of your farms and secure your supply to your customers,
- inspect your equipment likely to have been damaged by lightning before it becomes worse (destruction of blades or panels),
- be able to give your insurance company proof of lightning damage,
- position your solar panels flat when a thunderstorm is passing.
Discover how we support the wind and solar energy sector:
All our solutions tailored to your requirements
Evaluate your exposure to thunderstorms and lightning
Analyze your risks and adapt your means of prevention and protection.
Be alerted to the arrival and end of a thunderstorm
Safeguard people and infrastructures, adapt your operations.
Monitor live thunderstorms and lightning
Optimize your preventive measures and mitigate risks as early as possible.
Check any damage and your installations after a thunderstorm
Determine whether lightning has caused damage and optimize your inspection process.
Integrate lightning information
Feed your own tools with our high-resolution flows and data, in real time or past time.
Receive training on lightning and thunderstorm risks
Develop your skills and your employees’ skills.
Develop your own lightning service capability
Take advantage of CATS and provide your users with services tailored to their requirements.
Do you want to discuss this with your colleagues? Download our summary sheet.
We want to protect our assets by all means, and using METEORAGE’s services enables us to detect a possible failure or strike and carry out inspections in order to perform the appropriate repairs.
The Lightning Remote Counter service enables us to identify wind turbines that have been or are at risk of being struck by lightning, in order to optimize blade inspections. The wind turbines we have installed in these wind farms are equipped with protection against lightning called Lightning Protection Systems (LPS), which, in accordance with regulations, are installed in the turbine blades and throughout the turbine. The Remote Counter is a complementary system that also enables us to identify when lightning has struck a wind turbine and when lightning characteristics have passed through the LPS.
The Newsflash service enables us to detect thunderstorms effectively, and the early warning system enables us to identify when thunderstorms are approaching our wind farm. The technicians working on the various wind turbines on the farm are warned to stop their activities, evacuate the turbine and the farm to reach a safe area unaffected by the storm episode.
ENEL GREEN POWER
Spain
Enelgreenpower.com/es
The ability to anticipate a storm episode is a huge advantage for optimizing work and, in particular, guaranteeing the safety of personnel. The site manager receives the alarm in real time and informs the operators in the field.
The Remote Counter service is also extremely useful. The benefits are twofold: first, it reduces or limits losses and thus improves production, and second, it guarantees an appropriate service life for the asset.
Above all, it is highly practical for any insurance claims. From an operational point of view, we cross-reference the data from the Remote Counter report with that from the blade inspection report: this helps prioritize repair operations.
We are able to optimize planning and budgets, while maps from the Remote Counter report enable us to identify the areas most affected by lightning strikes so that we can monitor asset performance. We noticed that a wind turbine blade was performing below its theoretical efficiency. Since it was located in an area prone to storm episodes, we monitored it and found out that the blade was indeed damaged.
ENGIE
Italy
Electrical storms are by far one of the greatest environmental risks for wind farms.
Our top priority is to ensure the safety of the people working on our wind farms.
It is therefore vital that we have the necessary tools to predict and control on-site operations effectively.
Live lightning monitoring, lightning strike alarms and strong wind and storm forecasts from Meteorage ensure that we deliver the very best in health and safety planning and monitoring.
NADARA – VENTIENT ENERGY
United Kingdom
Nadara.com
Key benefits for our users
01 No need to install equipment or software.
Our services can be accessed via the Internet browser on a computer or mobile phone. A Customer Area with access to their online services and archives is available to our customers.
Our users do not require any installation or maintenance.
02Compliance with international standards IEC 61400-24 (wind power), IEC 62793, IEC 62858, IEC 62305-1, IEC 62305-2, IEC 62305-3, IEC 62305-4.
- IEC 61400-24 , the scope of which covers lightning protection for wind turbines: more information on the EN IEC 61400-24 standard.
- IEC 62793, the scope of which concerns Thunderstorm Warning Systems – Lightning Protection (TWSs): more information on the standard EN IEC 62793.
- IEC 62858, the scope of which concerns Lightning Density based on Lightning Location Systems (LLSs): more information on EN IEC 62858.
- IEC 62305-1 relating to the general principles of lightning protection – Part 1: more information on EN IEC 62305-1.
- IEC 62305-2 relating to risk assessment for lightning protection – Part 2: more information on EN IEC 62305-2.
- IEC 62305-3 relating to physical damage to structures and life hazard for lightning protection – Part 3: more information on EN IEC 62305-3.
- IEC 62305-4 relating to electrical and electronic systems within structures for lightning protection – Part 4: more information on EN IEC 62305-4.
03High-resolution data from the best detection technologies currently available.
04A dedicated technical team for services operational 24/7.
To find out more
Find out how to facilitate the maintenance of your wind turbines
Thanks to the Lightning Check Advisor solution, the day after each storm you automatically receive an email listing the wind turbines likely to have been struck by lightning. Now you can save time without compromising the safety of your teams, thanks to optimised inspections.
Read more
Sheltering from Thunderstorms: An Evaluation of Lightning Locating Systems to Prevent Risk
In this article published in Windtech International, Stéphane Schmitt, Lightning Expert at METEORAGE, explains how Lightning Location Systems (LLS) can provide early warning, bearing in mind that operators need sufficient warning to be able to apply safety procedures.
METEORAGE
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