Lightning and Static Protection is a wise investment for Production and Salt Water Disposal (SWD) Tank Batteries. A fruitful Lighting and Static Protection System for tanks can be performed by Grounding and Bonding, using Streamer Delaying Air Terminals (Dissipators), installing static control inside tanks and at truck load out stations and installing rated surge suppression.

Production, Salt-water separation, distillate, storage, and similar tanks, particularly fiberglass tanks, have a history of susceptibility to catastrophic damage from lightning and static discharges. The protection plan detailed below addresses both problems of lightning strike and static accumulation and discharges in the flammable environment of the tanks.

All protection systems require a way to ground. Streamer delaying air terminals can lower the likelihood of lighting attachment and streamer formation by dissipating rising ground charges during electrical storms, delaying streamer formation and reducing the likelihood of a lightning strike. Should a lightning strike occur, these streamer delaying air terminals still act as traditional lightning rods, that collect the strike and send its energy into earth.

Equi-potential bonding throughout the tank battery helps to ensure differences in potential don't arise throughout a lightning event ultimately causing sparks that may ignite the flammable gasses. Installing an inductive neutralizer (Static Lasso®) inside fiberglass and coated steel tanks also helps to gather and ground accumulating static charges to mitigate the danger of igniting vapors inside of tanks.

Static bonding and grounding systems at force outs create an equi-potential bond between force out pipe and the truck. This reduces the possibility of a dangerous static discharge during loading or unloading while hydrocarbon vapor is present.

Industrial grade surge suppression protects critical electronic and communication equipment such as VSDs, PLCs, ESPs and RTU's. A rise suppression system helps to protect your equipment from nearby electrical power surges and nearby lightning strikes.

You will find no guarantees with lightning, but by following best practices, damages are minimized. Each time a critical Central Tank Battery or SWD is lost to a lightning event, sadly operators realize they might have protected the complete Thunder Protection system field for less then the expense of the pick up and rebuild of that single critical site. Wise operators now proactively have lightning and static protection installed at every new site whilst the AFE is open during site construction.