Reducing the damaging effects of lightning in an industrial co-generation plant

An industrial co-generation facility presents a case-study of lightning-induced voltage fluctuations, separation from the electric utility company, and power outages. Included in the discussion are transmission line design considerations, storm and lightning detection, and co-generation system protection basics. Several lightning engineering programs were studied-in particular, the Windows(R)-based lightning protection design workstation (LPDW), developed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Also investigated was a computer-based tracking system designed to identify and locate electrical storms up to 483 km (300 miles) distant. The paper includes recommendations for the co-generator to improve the reliability of the plant distribution system and provide better control of the generator(s).