For energy operators managing multiple facilities, lightning risk is rarely equal across every site.
A power generation plant with exposed substations, a gas processing facility with elevated structures, an LNG terminal, and a compressor station may all face lightning exposure—but the
potential consequences of a direct lightning strike can vary dramatically.
Encore Land and Sea works with energy operators to evaluate lightning exposure across
individual facilities or entire portfolios, identify critical assets, develop custom
CMCE Lightning Suppression coverage strategies, and support implementation.
The process can start simply:
Identify your highest-risk facility first.
Lightning Is an Operational Risk
For critical energy infrastructure, lightning is more than a weather event.
A direct strike can contribute to:
- Electrical equipment damage
- Fire or ignition
- Substation or switchgear failure
- Control and communication system disruption
- Production interruption
- Emergency shutdowns
- Repair costs and extended downtime
- Safety and operational concerns
Facilities such as
power generation plants, compressor stations, gas processing facilities, substations, terminals, storage facilities, and LNG operations depend on electrical and control infrastructure that cannot easily tolerate unexpected disruption.
Reliability and resilience against extreme weather are increasingly important priorities for critical energy infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Energy identifies the
ability to withstand and recover from extreme weather as a critical function of today’s electric grid.
That makes lightning protection an important part of
facility reliability and operational risk management.
Evaluating Risk Across the Facility or Portfolio
Encore Land and Sea helps energy operators evaluate lightning exposure at both the
site and portfolio level.
The objective is to understand three things:
Where is the greatest exposure? What assets matter most? What could happen if those assets are struck?
A lightning risk evaluation may consider:
- Facility layout and elevation
- Existing lightning protection
- Substations and electrical distribution
- Switchgear and transformers
- PLC, SCADA, and control infrastructure
- Communications equipment
- Storage tanks and processing areas
- Stacks, towers, and elevated structures
- Critical production equipment
- Grounding, bonding, and surge protection
- Potential operational consequences of a strike
Modern energy infrastructure depends on interconnected generation, transmission, substations, transformers, sensors, software, and communications systems—all of which contribute to overall grid reliability and resilience.
For operators with dozens—or even hundreds—of locations, this creates a practical way to
prioritize lightning mitigation instead of approaching every property identically.
Develop a CMCE Lightning Suppression Strategy
Once critical assets and high-risk areas are identified, Encore can develop a site-specific
CMCE Lightning Suppression coverage strategy.
Unlike traditional lightning protection systems
designed to intercept a lightning strike and conduct the electrical energy after attachment occurs,
CMCE technology is designed to eliminate the conditions that contribute to upward streamer formation and direct lightning attachment within the protected area. This process creates an invisible strike-free dome over the protected property.
For energy facilities, this provides a different approach to lightning risk:
Prevent the probability of lightning strike formation in the first place.
CMCE coverage strategies can be designed around critical infrastructure such as:
- Electrical substations
- Generation equipment
- Compressor stations
- Gas processing infrastructure
- LNG facilities
- Storage tank areas
- Control buildings
- Communications systems
- Switchyards
- Stacks and towers
Encore can evaluate placement, coverage requirements, grounding and bonding considerations, and installation requirements to develop a practical protection strategy for the site.
Start With the Facility Where Failure Matters Most
A portfolio-wide lightning protection initiative does not need to begin everywhere at once.
Start with the facility where lightning presents the
highest combination of exposure and consequence.
That may be:
- The facility with a history of lightning-related outages
- The site with the most critical electrical infrastructure
- A location with flammable or combustible materials
- A plant where downtime has the greatest financial impact
- A facility with exposed substations or controls
- A high-lightning-density location
- A property currently relying on an aging lightning protection strategy
Encore Land and Sea can evaluate that facility, develop a CMCE protection design, support installation, and help establish a framework that can then be applied across additional locations.
This approach allows operators to address their
highest-priority lightning risk first while developing a scalable strategy for the broader portfolio.
Build a Lightning Risk Strategy Around Your Operations
Every energy facility has a different risk profile.
The right lightning mitigation strategy should account for the site's
critical assets, operational importance, lightning exposure, existing protection, and potential consequences of failure.
Encore Land and Sea works with energy operators from initial evaluation through CMCE system design and implementation.
Whether you are responsible for
one critical facility or an entire portfolio of energy infrastructure, the first step does not have to be complicated.
Start With Your Highest-Risk Facility
Identify the location where a direct lightning strike could create the greatest operational, financial, or safety impact.
Encore Land and Sea can review the facility's lightning exposure, identify vulnerable infrastructure, evaluate existing protection, and develop a
custom
CMCE Lightning Suppression coverage strategy based on the property's unique characteristics.
Request a lightning risk assessment or
schedule a consultation with the
Encore Land and Sea team to begin with your highest-risk facility.
Phone:
(888) 360-7786
Email:
sales@encorelandandsea.com
Website:
www.encorelandandsea.com
