Optimization Approach for Earth-Termination System for Large-Scale Solar Power Plant with Pre-Determined Air-Termination System

This paper presents a new approach for optimizing the external lightning protection system (LPS) for large-scale solarpower plants (SPPs). Unlike traditional methods, which treat the design of the air-termination system (ATS) and the earth-termination system (ETS) independently, this approach considers both systems together. Integrating both systems provides greaterflexibility, enabling the construction of a more efficient LPS, conserving materials, reducing transient ground potential rise(GPR), and ensuring personal safety. Additionally, this approach addresses current challenges by preventing direct lightning strikesto SPP components (such as PV panels), avoiding shadowing, and not interfering with cleaning robots.