Bare Versus Insulated Conductors For Improving The Lightning Response Of Interconnected Wind Turbine Grounding Systems

This paper investigates the lightning response of a pair of interconnected wind turbine grounding systems assuming their connection to be performed by a bare or insulated underground conductor. Typical first and subsequent stroke current waveforms are injected at one of the grounding systems and the transient response is studied for different soil resistivities considering frequency-dependent soil parameters. The ground potential rise (GPR) at the current injection point and the voltages transferred to the adjacent grounding system are calculated. GPR peak reductions are obtained using either a bare or insulated conductor, but the former is more effective. It is shown that when the wind turbine grounding systems are interconnected by a bare conductor, the GPR peak reduction is essentially due to the interconnecting wire. On the other hand, when the interconnection is made through an insulated conductor, the GPR reduction is related to the current that is partly diverted to the adjacent tower, especially for high resistivity soils. For an insulated interconnecting conductor and first lightning returnstroke currents, the adjacent grounding system also contributes to the GPR peak decrease.