Protective Effects of Surge Arresters on Power Distribution Lines against Direct Lightning Hits to Overhead Ground Wire

Abstract

Surge arresters and overhead ground wires have been equipped as principal measures to protect overhead power distribution lines from lightning.
Surge arresters are installed to protect lines and apparatus with the primary aim of suppressing the overvoltage induced by nearby lightning strokes. Therefore, little attention has been paid to the prevention of backflashovers caused by direct lightning hits to overhead ground wires.
However, for the further improvement of the performance of the power system, protection of distribution lines against direct lightning strokes needs to be investigated.
The authors analyzed the protective effects of surge arresters against direct lightning hits to overhead ground wires using EMTP. We found by the analysis that power distribution lines could be properly protected from direct lightning hits to poles installed with surge arresters, irrespective of the distance between adjacent poles. As a result, it was found that the outages due to direct lightning strokes are mostly eliminated when surge arresters are installed on all poles.