Applicability of IEC 62305 for Lightning Protection of U.S. Power Generation Facilities

Lightning protection standards exist for the protection of transmission and overhead distribution lines, as well as switchyards, but not for the protection of power generation facilities. In the absence of a specific lightning protection standard, lightning protection systems for power generation facilities in the United States are typically designed to the specifications of NFPA 780, “Standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection Systems”, even though that standard states that electric power generating facilities are excluded from its requirements. The requirements of the international standard for protection against lightning, IEC 62305, is applicable to all structures and relies on a rigorous lightning risk assessment to determine the degree of protection required. In this paper a comparative analysis of the NFPA 780 and IEC 62305 standards is presented and demonstrates the IEC 62305 standard to be a superior lightning protection standard for the protection of U.S. power generation facilities.