EUDP 2023-I Projekt Tordenkile

The Thunderbolt project aims to offer a commercial subscription service to the wind energy market. It pro-vides timely information for wind farm owners to identify and halt turbines within 48 hours of a potential lightning strike. Operators like EDF and Eulos currently face significant lightning damages globally, impacting the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) by millions of euros annually. These operators lack comprehensive lightning data, making it challenging to promptly respond to strikes and determine which turbines are af-fected.
EDF manually reviews lightning data to inspect and curtail turbines among their 7,000 operational ones. Eulos conducts an annual data review for their 250 managed turbines. Without adequate insight into lightning risk, wind farm owners face expensive damage accumulation and potentially catastrophic blade failures.
The Thunderbolt project aims to develop a decision tool for wind farm owners, empowering them to make informed choices after lightning strike events. By providing this tool, the project seeks to mitigate the esti-mated 28% increase in LCOE due to damages requiring approximately 100,000 EUR in repairs.