That's not a dumb question at all. Lightning protection is a different story than when the tower itself conducts. The nacelle (the part that houses the generator) is grounded and so are the blades (they have an integral conducting mesh). All of this is conducted all the way to ground level by conductors much the same as what you'd see on a wooden house with lightning protection. I'm not sure what they've done on the outside of the structure, but I suspect that the chances of the nacelle or the blades being hit are far higher than the chances of the tower itself being hit directly. If it does get hit it might ignite so there is still some part that more detail would help on, I can't see anything special in the photographs accompanying the article.
I’m sure they’re still electrically grounded. I’d be shocked if they didn’t have lightning rods, not to mention all of the metallic innards like ladders and wiring that would have much lower resistance than the wood itself.
Not a dumb question, I’m assuming it’s been treated with flame-retardant chemicals, but I’m surprised that it’s fireproof-ness wasn’t addressed in the article.
Since they are the tallest thing around, wind turbine blades get struck by lightning regularly.
Fiberglas is an insulator. Aluminum is a good conductor. But carbon fiber is a resistor. Carbon fiber blades have to have embedded conductors to prevent from being blown up by lightning strikes. So there's a layer of aluminum foil or similar to provide a low-resistance discharge path.
Same problem as carbon-fiber aircraft, with similar solutions.
