An experimental study of sparkover between a rod and a photovoltaic panel

This paper describes experimental results of sparkover characteristics of a gap consisting of a photovoltaic panel and a rod which represents a final jump of a lightning stroke. Surface discharge occurs after a sparkover between the rod and the panel when a frame of the panel is grounded. Photovoltaic cells in sparkover phenomena act like a metallic plate. The experimental results suggest that lightning damages on a panel rarely occurs due to direct lightning hit to the photovoltaic panel by the surface discharge.