Your partner in Lightning Protection

Protection against the effects of direct and indirect lightning strikes and over voltages originating internally in electrical installations is the short description of the principal business areas of Electricon A/S.

Our goal is continuously to be the most professional and attractive alternative when it comes to choosing your partner within this field of competences.

The lightning protection challenge

As wind turbines typically are the tallest structures in the surrounding area of a wind farm, it is expected that they will attract direct lightning strikes several times during their operating life. The lightning produces an intense electromagnetic field inducing transient over voltages throughout the turbine's wiring system. These powerful electrical surges propagate through the wind turbines electrical system and can cause severe damage to equipment including power components (generators, transformers, power converters etc.), control electronics, communication and SCADA systems. Damage may be immediate, i.e. during the lightning event, or equipment damage may occur at any time thereafter due to the cumulative effect of repetitive exposure to surges.

Lightning strikes and switching transients originating from normal operation create serious challenges for wind farm operators since replacement of the key power components - generators and transformers - is expensive and, in many cases, access to wind farm sites may be restricted for weeks due to weather conditions.

When it comes to offshore installations or plants in remote rural areas, transportation often poses an extra challenge. Service team costs are additional expenses, but the most significant impact on wind farm operators is definitely the loss of revenue during down time!

A surge protection solution from Electricon is based on the Strikesorb® surge arrestor technology that secures reliable operation of wind turbine systems and avoids damage and interruption due to lightning and switching over voltages.

Electricon is a dynamic engineering and contracting company with its focus on electrical systems' immunity against atmospheric disturbances and noise originating from within the installations. Lightning and overvoltage protection combined with power quality solutions are therefore our mission.

We in Electricon maintain a constant focus on the contribution from our solutions to the enhancement of the electrical reliability at the customer's site. With the participation of our engineers in the very early concept design of technical installations, we can secure the integration of protection right from the beginning of a project.

Our professional knowhow combined with the customer's knowledge about their own installations create a great synergy with regard to the securing of reliable installations.

When it comes to existing installations, we carry out analyses of reliability and immunity - and we design and document turn-key solutions for optimization of the overall turbine availability.

The individual Electricon employee plays a major role - our employees and our solutions constitute our profile.

Engineering assistance

Electricon engineers partake in customer development projects on a consultancy basis providing their expertise for specific construction and design of lightning and overvoltage protection. Our engineers have all experience from development tasks in large organizations and they are used to join development teams at different levels. By letting our engineers undertake this responsibility, it will be ensured that a tailored protection concept is elaborated.

A well prepared concept is the basis for obtaining a good protection. All lightning attachment points must be defined and all sensitive equipment must be protected against over voltages.

Compliance with international standards In order to comply with fundamental recommendations of the international standards, it is essential that all lightning and overvoltage protection measures are designed as an integrated part of the installation.

The Electricon engineers elaborate conceptual designs for all types of electrical systems and buildings. A conceptual design consists in a draft project where the zoning and cable routes are defined with requirements of immunity and overvoltage protection and descriptions of how to obtain the chosen degree of protection. In cases with outer protection, drafts are elaborated for the establishment of an air termination and down conductor system, earth termination system and equipotential bonding.

Test and verification

Electricon documents the effectiveness of a protective system or the immunity of electrical appliances with laboratory tests. Special high voltage tests verify designated or natural lightning attachment points and the effectiveness of the protection is evaluated. Impulse current of up to 200.000A can verify whether the system resists the effects of lightning. Functionality and life time of surge protective devices (integrated in electrical installations) can likewise be verified.

Technical documentation

As a part of the conceptual design it is vital to have a thorough knowledge of the way the currents propagate throughout the construction whether it is a wind turbine, a radio/TV transmission tower, or an Oil-field drill rig. Electricon documents these conditions carefully verifying whether the chosen solutions comply with requirements of international standards and, besides, live up to common sense and good practice. We always provide a detailed technical documentation of the chosen solutions including reports, calculations, test journals, drawings etc., all according to the IEC standards.

Power quality

Reports on malfunctions and grid drop statistics demonstrate the necessity of securing installations against voltage disruptions, and it makes economic sense to protect against unexpected interruptions.

By the use of professional equipment Electricon determines the quality of the power in any type of installation. Measurements in various local points procure the necessary overview for an estimation of the risk of electrical disturbances - and the necessity of protective measures.

Electricon as your partner

Entering into collaboration with Electricon is the gateway to engineering competences on a high level. It is our objective constantly to be at the front when it comes to technological understanding and overview within our technical disciplines. We watch and know all relevant standards securing the steady compliance of our customers' systems in this regard.

Electricon is your partner in many areas, whether it comes to development, analysis, preparation of technical documentation or inspection of new or existing installations.

Well justified investment

Wind turbine generators represent a sizeable investment that can be instantly destroyed without the proper surge protection with the result of lost revenue or loss of critical functionality.

The investment in an Electricon surge suppression solution, featuring Strikesorb® technology, allows customers to benefit from the huge returns obtained by avoiding interruptions of operation under a wide variety of adverse conditions. The technology employed by Electricon significantly improves the overall wind turbine availability.

Our professional services include:

• Overvoltage and power quality analysis on existing wind turbines
• Assessment of likely damage
• Inspection of lightning protection systems
• Integration of retrofit solutions for protection improvements
• Protection concept design and risk assessment in accordance with IEC61400-24
• Test and verification using high voltage and impulse currents
• Short circuit fault and load flow calculations