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Photovoltaic power plants are gaining in popularity and availability every year, resulting in a massive increase in their number and size. However, each such investment involves allocating large land areas, the cost of which may be high. For this reason, there has been an increasing interest in the use of post-industrial wastelands in the form of artificial water reservoirs which often occupy large areas. Because their use as places of recreation can be dangerous for people, it is a cheap alternative for the foundation of a floating photovoltaic power plant. In addition, it has an advantage over the land version in that it is possible to produce a more significant amount of energy by using the sun's rays reflected from the water's surface. Despite these undeniable advantages, such a structure poses several technological challenges. This article focuses on the aspect of lightning protection, which is particularly important due to the structure's location in the open, and also a specific ground type with noticeably different mechanical and electrical characteristics than typical soil. Aspects such as the lightning hazard, arrangement of lightning rods, down conductors, lightning equipotential bonding, and various earthing configurations are discussed. The presented analysis is based on geometric models and simulations made in the Ansys/Maxwell 3D environment and is supplemented with calculations in Matlab/Simulink. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the considerations presented in the article was a stand-alone ground-based photovoltaic power plant. The article is devoted to the qualitative analysis of some lightning protection configurations. These types of constructions often require an individual look at the design and execution of lightning protection installations, which causes problems with the selection of optimal solutions. These problems relate primarily to the way the lightning rods are arranged to create protection zones, but also to the way they are attached: to the supporting structure for PV modules or as free-standing. Another problem raised in the article is the way how lightning current is discharged from rods to the ground and how it is dispersed there. Due to the vast area of such facilities and the requirements for electrical safety, it is necessary to consider and design a ground system with optimal electrical parameters, but also technical and economic ones. All these elements have their impact on the value of voltages induced in the electrical installation, which is also presented in the content of the article as the magnetic field distribution and calculation of induced voltages in an exemplary configuration. Finally, this article will compare described technical solutions encountered in selecting the best protection method for this type of photovoltaic installation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]