Analysis of the atmospheric electrical activity over wind farm in Argentina, in a Context of Climate Change

VILLAGRÁN, CONSTANZA I.; NICORA, M. GABRIELA; BAISSAC, DAIANA M.; BERTONE, FLORENCIA; ÁVILA, ELDO E.; MEZA, AMALIA

Tel Aviv

Congreso; 17th International Conference on Atmospheric Electricity (ICAE); 2022

Northeastern Argentina, Paraguay and southern Brazil are the regions ofmaximum atmospheric electrical activity (AEA) in South America (Albrecht etal., 2016) (Fig.1). Within the Argentine territory, three maximums in the AEAcan be distinguished, located in the Northwest region, Litoral region and a thirdrelative maximum in the central area of the country, encompassing the Córdobaand San Luis mountain (Nicora 2014). As we move towards the south ofArgentina, we find a decrease in electrical activity.In December 2015, the Paris Agreement was signed, which aimed to limit globaltemperature increase to 2°C or less by year 2100(1). Due to this, Argentinapassed laws to promote the participation of renewable energies in the nationalmatrix, especially wind energy(2). The installation of wind farms reducescarbon dioxide emissions (3). However, being high structures located in lowareas, wind turbines are exposed to the impact of lightning and the effectgenerated by the movement of their blades. The rotating blades of wind turbinesoften act as lightning triggers and thus increase their own vulnerability(Montanyà et al, 2014; Yair, Y. et al, 2018). For this reason, the aim of this workis to study the changes that could be generated in the AEA in Argentina, due tothe installation of wind farms.