Lightning and Transmission Lines
Design
Employing adequate protection can minimize
lightning-induced overvoltages on transmission
lines. The normal practice of protection against
overvoltages by power transmission companies is
to employ static-wire shielding and arresters to divert these voltage surges to ground. Even with the
protection of shielding, a low percentage of strokes
may penetrate the static-wire shielding. In addition, induced surges will occur on the line due to
the presence of lightning in the area. When this
happens, arresters (if used) will divert this surge
energy to ground. If no arresters are used, or they
are too far fromthe strike area, backflashover of the
insulators will occur [3].