Lightning strike characteristics of wind turbines in Japan

In recent years, as global warming advances, countermeasures for reducing gases of various greenhouse are needed. One of the countermeasures is a power generation using renewable energy that does not emit greenhouse gases. In particular, wind power generation is attracting attention due to its low cost compared to power generation using other renewable energies. However, as wind turbines become larger and the number of wind turbine increases, the probability of lightning strikes increases, it is important to establish more reliable lightning damage countermeasures. In response to this situation, the "Interpretation of Technical Standards for wind turbines" was revised in 2015 in Japan, installation of lightning detection systems to accurately detect lightning strikes and automatically shut down the wind turbine have been obligated in wind turbines in winter lightning regions in coastal regions in Japan. In addition, the performance of lightning detection systems has been improved by the results of recent research, and the systems with high detection accuracy are widely used in the market. In this study, we report the results of investigating the characteristics of lightning strikes using lightning data on approximately 450 wind turbines along the coast of Japan.