Protecting Peaker Plants from Lightning-Related Disruptions

The ORIGINAL article first appeared in Building Maintenance & Safety Magazine

Lightning Eliminators & Consultants (LEC) is proud to be featured in the May 2026 issue of Building Maintenance & Safety Products Magazine, a trusted publication for facility managers and building systems professionals.

This article discusses how U.S. peaker plants—power facilities that come online only during periods of peak electricity demand—face outsized vulnerability to lightning strikes. Their tall exhaust stacks, transmission towers, and open-air substations act as natural strike points, while extensive grid-connected equipment like generators, transformers, and switchgear is prone to transient overvoltage damage.

Because these plants sit idle for long stretches and must start up quickly when called upon, lightning-induced degradation can go undetected during routine inspections yet cause failures exactly when the plant is needed most during grid stress. Secondary effects like ground potential rise and electromagnetic coupling can also disrupt control systems even without a direct hit, making comprehensive protection—grounding, bonding, shielding, and surge suppression—essential rather than optional.

The piece features insights from Peter Carpenter of Lightning Eliminators & Consultants (LEC), who argues that preventing strikes altogether using Dissipation Array® System (DAS®) technology is superior to traditional lightning rods that attract and then manage a strike. He emphasizes that no single solution fits every facility—effective protection requires a tailored risk assessment based on a plant’s specific vulnerabilities and history, which LEC offers through its Free Lightning Risk Assessment for Critical Operations.

DOWNLOAD PDF – Peaker Plant Article