Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has completed installation of 150 surge arresters on sections of its southern and central England distribution area as part of a trial project to boost resilience against lightning strikes. The £510,000 project will help minimise the impact lightning strikes have on the network and reduce the response time to power cuts from strikes.
Lightning strikes are one of the leading causes of network interruptions and power cuts throughout SSEN’s central southern England distribution areas. To reduce the impact of strikes on the network, SSEN is trialling new surge arresters on overhead lines in the Basingstoke area. The new surge arresters offer a quicker, more efficient and observable approach to managing lightning strikes.
The new surge arrestors are designed to absorb lightning strikes and physically disconnect themselves from a line. When lightning strikes an overhead line, it causes a chemical reaction in the arrester which results in the physical disconnection between the arrester and the line. Impacted overhead lines are then easier to spot by local teams and engineers who can then make the necessary repairs and replacements.
This innovative new project will help reduce the length of power cuts for customers by speeding up the identification, replacement and repair processes. The surge arresters will provide a better understanding of where lightning strikes most frequently occur and how the network can be best prepared to handle them.
The current procedure for responding to a lightning strike on an overhead line requires local teams investigating to determine the strike’s exact location. Once the location is determined the team are then able to make the necessary repairs and replacements. During this period customers would remain off supply. If successful this project will make this process quicker and minimise the disruption lightning strikes caused to the households, businesses and communities that SSEN serves.
Rhys Williams, Project Manager for the Informed Lightning Protection project, said: “With lightning strikes being one of the leading causes of interruptions to customers, this project is playing a key role in helping us develop a more efficient response to strikes and identifying where strikes are frequently occurring.
“If this trial is successful, we aim to adopt these new surge arresters in areas of frequent lightning strikes across both our central and southern England and north of Scotland distribution areas. This will support a more efficient identification procedure and help to support increased network resiliency.”
The Informed Lightning Protection project is a Network Innovation Allowance (NIA) funded project worth £510,000 that will run until March 2023.
