Transmission line arrester energy, cost, and risk of failure analysis for partially shielded transmission lines

Application of metal oxide surge arresters in power systems has been traditionally linked to electrical equipment protection. The industry has noted a very significant increase in the application of metal oxide arresters on transmission lines in an effort to reduce lightning initiated flashovers. This paper describes a cost-effective installation of surge arresters on a partially shielded transmission line. It compares several options with respect to cost and gains in terms of lightning performance improvement. This paper also presents a new approach to calculate risk of failure of transmission line surge arresters (TLSAs) due to lightning strokes to towers, shield/phase conductors, and illustrates the method with an example for a partially shielded line. Results show that the risk of failure is very small. The installation of TLSAs completed in 1997 demonstrated that it is possible to afford adequate lightning protection levels by selectively applying surge arresters only to the towers most sensitive to backflashover and shielding failures.