MEV


 

 

Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical Power, and Vehicular Technology 10 (2019) 49-59 

 

Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical Power, 
and Vehicular Technology 

 
e-ISSN: 2088-6985  

p-ISSN: 2087-3379  

 

 

www.mevjournal.com 

 
 

 
doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.14203/j.mev.2019.v10.49-59 

2088-6985 / 2087-3379 ©2019 Research Centre for Electrical Power and Mechatronics - Indonesian Institute of Sciences (RCEPM LIPI).  
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-SA license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).  
Accreditation Number: (RISTEKDIKTI) 1/E/KPT/2015 (Sinta 2). 

The effect of lightning impulse characteristics and line arrester 
to the lightning protection performance on 150 kV overhead 

lines: ATP-EMTP computational approach 
 

Fri Murdiya *, Febrizal, Cecilia Stevany, Havel Alindo Sano, Firdaus 

Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Riau 
Jl. H.R Subrantas km 12,5 Kampus Binawidya Panam, Pekanbaru, 28293, Indonesia 

 
Received 14 January 2019; accepted 15 November 2019 

 
 

Abstract 

This simulation study presents the effect of lightning strikes on the performance of arresters at 150 kV overhead lines. 
Lightning strikes have several parameters that affect the performance of line arresters (LA), namely lightning charge, and 
impulse energy. The simulation was attempted by the injection of a direct strike to the ground wire with the peak voltage of 
10 MV. The peak voltage was varied in terms of wavefront time (Tf) and the duration of lightning impulses (tau). In order to 
calculate current, charge and impulse energy of LA from various variations of Tf and tau, the trapezoidal numerical integration 
method is used. The current and impulse energy arising due to direct strikes and various variations of Tf and tau will be 
compared for each phase so that the influence of Tf and tau can be obtained from the performance of the LA and the current 
charge and impulse energy values are still within the limits of the IEEE C62.11 standard. The installation of LA and the position 
of arresters affected the peak voltage of lightning on the phase line when lightning struck it. The line arresters provide a drop 
in the peak voltage of lightning in phase lines. By installing line arresters in each tower, it will reduce the peak voltage of 
lightning on the phase line more significantly than the standalone line arrester. It is shown that the line arresters have to 
install at least six towers to reduce the peak voltage in the phase lines. 

©2019 Research Centre for Electrical Power and Mechatronics - Indonesian Institute of Sciences. This is an open access 
article under the CC BY-NC-SA license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

Keywords: lightning impulse; line arrester; peak voltage; impulse energy; placement of arrester. 

 
 

I. Introduction 

Overhead lines for 70 kV, 150 kV and 275 kV, 
which stretch along the island of Sumatra, are very 
susceptible to the disruption caused by lightning 
strike. This is proven by the lightning activity in 
Sumatra Island, which includes the high category. 
This happens because Indonesia is located in the 
humid tropics which results in very high 
thunderstorm days compared to other regions (100-
200 days of thunder per year). Based on the 
calculation using IEEE flash software as shown in 
Figure 1, the back flashover rate (BFOR) and shielding 
failure flashover rate (SFFOR) are directly 
proportional to the ground flash density (GFD) for the 
150 kV overhead lines in Sumatra. With GFD of 9-13 
flash/km2/year, the 150 kV overhead lines in Sumatra 

are often hit by the lightning strikes. The data show 
that from 2011 to 2014, the phase lines were struck 
by lightning as many as 305 times as shown in 

Figure 2. 
The recorded failures of the 150 kV overhead lines 

in central Sumatra from 2011 to 2014 occurred 
throughout the year. This failure was recorded as a 
failure due to lightning. These data also show that the 
central Sumatra has a high lightning density which is 
a threat and disruption to the distribution of 
electricity. The data in Figure 1 and Figure 2 indicates 
that the 150 kV overhead lines in central Sumatra 
need to be protected according to the safety standard. 

High-voltage transmission poles are tall objects 
and are subject to lightning strikes. It is not only the 
shielding failure caused by lightning struck that 
should be calculated, but the back flashover needs to 
also be estimated. The efforts that have been 
attempted by the Electric Company in Sumatra to 
reduce the outages caused by lightning strikes 
include checking and resetting the grounding rod at 

 
 
* Corresponding Author. Hp: +62 812 8881 6276 

E-mail address: frimurdiya@eng.unri.ac.id 

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F. Murdiya et al. / Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical Power, and Vehicular Technology 10 (2019) 49-59 

 

50 

least under 5 Ohms, checking and repairing the 
ground static wire clamps, as well as the installations 
of transmission lightning arrester (TLA), lightning 
protection termination early streamer emission (ESE), 
and static wire insulated ground (i-GSW) for areas 
that are often struck by lightning. Another effort was 
also carried out by installing jet stream arc-
quenching lightning protection gap. External ground 
wires contribute to reduce flashover rate. Those 
efforts are done by [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. The 
recommendation for back flashover rate 
improvement has been proposed by [9] using multi 
chamber insulator arresters (MCIA) to substitute the 
string insulators. From the improvement efforts 
carried out by the electric company in Sumatra, there 
are some interesting things to be evaluated further, 
such as whether, the installed TLA is related to the 
characteristics of the lightning impulses and their 
effects to decrease the lightning peak voltage hence 
improving the 150 kV lines performances. In this 
manuscript, the simulations were carried out by 
means of ATP-EMTP software. The impulse generator 
model uses the Heidler model which is an impulse 
current function model and is widely used as a model 
of lightning. Equation (1) and Equation (2) are 
momentary current equations that calculate lightning 

currents in this model [10][11][12][13]. This Heidler 
model is given in Figure 3. 

𝑖(𝑡) =
𝐼0

𝜂
⋅

[
𝑡

𝜏1
]

[
𝑡

𝜏1
]

𝑛
+1

⋅ 𝑒
[

−𝑡

𝜏2
]
 (1) 

𝜂 = 𝑒
[−[

𝜏1
𝜏2

][
𝜂𝜏2
𝜏1

]

1
𝑛

]

 (2) 

where 𝐼0 is lightning peak current (kA), 𝜏1  is current 
rising time constant, 𝜏2  is current dropping time 

constant, and 𝜂 is current crest factor. 
The TLA model of 150 kV overhead lines is shown 

in Figure 4. This model has also been derived from 
IEEE standards [14][15][16]. This model will be used 
in the simulation with the ATP-EMTP software. The 

 
Figure 1. BFOR and SFFOR for 150 kV in Sumatra 

 

 
Source: Electric Company in Sumatra 

 

Figure 2. The number of the outage of the 150 kV overhead lines caused by lightning struck 

16 16

21

2

23

30 29

8

17
15

6

10

26

21
23 22

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Jan-Mar Apr-Jun Jul-Sep Oct-Dec

2011 2012 2013 2014

 

Figure 3. Lightning current model 



F. Murdiya et al. / Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical Power, and Vehicular Technology 10 (2019) 49-59 

 
51 

Pinceti and Giannettoni model is a simplified model 
of the IEEE W.G 3.4.11 standard. This model 
eliminates the capacitance C because of its negligible 
effect. The two parallel resistances with inductance 

are replaced by one R resistance (about 1 MΩ) 

between the input terminals. The non-linear resistor 
characteristics 𝐴𝑜 and 𝐴1 are identical to the IEEE W. 
G 3.4.11 model. The 𝐿𝑜  and 𝐿1  parameters of this 
simplified surge arrester model are calculated from 
the following Equation (3) and Equation (4) [17][18]. 

𝐿1 =
1

4
⋅

𝑉𝑟1 𝑇2⁄ −𝑉𝑟8 20⁄

𝑉𝑟8 20⁄
⋅ 𝑉𝑛  (3) 

𝐿0 =
1

12
⋅

𝑉𝑟1 𝑇2⁄ −𝑉𝑟8 20⁄

𝑉𝑟8 20⁄
⋅ 𝑉𝑛  (4) 

where 𝑉𝑛  is arrester rated voltage, 𝑉𝑟1 𝑇2⁄  is impulse 

voltage with a waveform of 1,2/5 µs, 𝑉𝑟8 20⁄  is impulse 

voltage with waveform 8/20 µs. The values of non-
linear resistance A0 and A1 are taken from the data of 
ZnO arrester presented in Table 1. By using Equation 
(3) and Equation (4), the values of 𝐿1 is 0.002448 mH 
and 𝐿0 is 0.000816 mH. The values of A0 and A1, Vref is 
twice of residual voltage for the current of 10 kA and 

waveform of 8/20 μs. The transmission tower is 

modelled for 150 kV with four parameters illustrated 
in Figure 5. One of the well-known models is the 
multistory model designed by Masaru Ishii. The 
multistory tower model consists of a line of 
parameters distributed with parallel RL circuits and 
has been recommended by Japanese standards for 
designing/coordinating insulation against lightning. 
This model is widely used for lightning wave analysis 
in Japan [13][19][20]. The velocity of propagation is 
300 m/s. The recommended surge impedance value 
from the tower model above can be seen in Table 2. 
The values of R and L every section on the tower are 
defined as in Equation (5) and Equation (6) as follows: 

𝑅𝑖 =  Δ𝑅𝑖 𝑥𝑖 (5) 

𝐿𝑖 =  2𝜏𝑅𝑖 (6) 

where i = 1,2,3, and 4 for every section of the tower, 
tower height h, x1 is the distance of ground wire (GW) 
to phase line 1, x2 is the distance of phase line 2 to 
phase line 1, x3 is the distance of phase line 3 to phase 
line 2, and x4 is the distance of phase line 3 to ground. 
The formula of  Δ𝑅𝑖 is determined by Equation (4) and 

Table 2. 
Recommended value of lightning parameters 

System 

voltage 

Lighting 

current 

Tower height/ geometry  

(m) 

Surge imp. 

(Ω ) 

Footing res. 

(Ω ) 

(kV) (kA) H x1 x2 x3 Zt1 Zt4 Rf 

1100 200 107 12.5 18.5 18.5 130 90 10 

500 150 79.5 7.5 14.5 14.5 220 150 10 

275 100 52.0 9.0 7.6 7.6 220 150 10 

154 (110) 60 45.8 6.2 4.3 4.3 220 150 10 

77 (66) 30, 40 28.0 3.5 4.0 3.5 220 150 10-20 

 

 
(a) (b) 

Figure 5. The well-known models: (a) 150 kV tower and 
(b) Multi-storey tower for ATP-EMTP model 

Rp

L0 L1

A0 A1

 

Figure 4. Pinceti and Giannettoni model 

 
Table 1.  

Data of arrester MOV 

I (A) 
U (V) 

A0 A1 

10 271,250 0 

100 298,530 238,390 

1,000 325,500 263,500 

2,000 337,280 277,140 

4,000 348,750 286,750 

6,000 352,780 290,780 

8,000 362,390 296,360 

10,000 368,280 300,390 

12,000 373,860 302,250 

14,000 381,610 306,280 

16,000 387,500 308,140 

18,000 397,110 310,000 

20,000 407,030 311,860 

 



F. Murdiya et al. / Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical Power, and Vehicular Technology 10 (2019) 49-59 

 

52 

Equation (5) where Zt1 and Zt4 are data from Table 1 
for system voltage of 154 kV/110 kV and time of 

traveling wave on the tower: 𝜏 = ℎ 𝑐0⁄ , the 

attenuation constant: and propagation velocity: 𝑐0 =
300 𝑚 𝜇𝑠⁄ . 

Δ𝑅1 = Δ𝑅2 = Δ𝑅3 =
2𝑍𝑡𝑙

ℎ−𝑥4
𝑙𝑛 (

1

𝛼1
) (7) 

Δ𝑅4 =
2𝑍𝑡𝑙

ℎ−𝑥4
𝑙𝑛 (

1

𝛼1
) (8) 

Transmission lines in Japan use a vertical 
twincircuit configuration with two ground wires and 
6 phase wires. This configuration model is used for 
the transmission line model on EMTP called the 
frequency-dependent line model of the EMTP. 
However, the influence of distributed-line models 
with a fixed propagation velocity, more attenuation, 
and surge impedance is explained in EMTP which is 
often used for transient overvoltage simulations [21]. 
The frequency-dependent effect of a tower used in 
the simulation is a combination of the frequency-

dependent tower impedance with the Semlyen or 
Marti line model in EMTP [22][23][24][25][26]. The 
current charge is the area of lightning or integral 
current with time. This current charge (Q) is 
formulated in Equation (9), where i is the lightning 
current strength in kA and t is a time in seconds. 

𝑄 = ∫ 𝑖 𝑑𝑡 (C) (9) 

Integral Quadratic Current (E) is impulse energy 
which is a mechanical effect, and lightning heat can 
be formulated in Equation (10), 

𝐸 = ∫ 𝑖2𝑡 𝑑𝑡 (J) (10) 

By following the simulation rules above, the 
effects of lightning impulse characteristics and 
transmission lines arrester (TLA) on the design of TLA 
laying in 150 kV overhead lines in Sumatra were 
carried out. The number of TLA used needs to be 
proven by simulations to determine the effectiveness 
of TLA installation on 150 kV overhead lines in 
Sumatra. 

II. Research Methodology 

Analysis of lightning strikes on arrester work at 
150 kV overhead lines in this study was carried out 
using the ATP (Alternative Transient Program). The 
simulation process was carried out in several stages, 
namely: field data collection, transmission line 
parameter calculation, modelling all channel 
parameters into ATP-EMTP, analyzing current charge 
and impulse energy in arresters in each phase and 
analyzing the installation of arresters in each 
transmission tower. 

The data retrieval was carried out by collecting 
equipment data, tower data, power transformer data, 
arrester data used at the substation and lines, and the 
components needed for the modelling process. The 
conductor data used in this study are divided into 
two: shield wires and phase wires. Shield wires are 
made of the galvanized steel wire with a cross-
sectional area of 55 mm2, and the sag length is 4,576 
m. Phase conductor is made of Zebra ACSR with a 
cross-sectional area of 428 mm2, Rmax resistance is 
0.0397 Ohm/km, Xmax reactance is 0.272 Ohm/km, 
Lmax inductance is 0.433 mH/km and Cmax capacitance 
is 6.645 nF/km. Sag length is 5.4 m. The tower 
configuration is shown in Figure 6. Shield wires and 
phase wires are tabulated in Table 3. 

 
 

Figure 6. Tower configurations 

Table 3. 
The positions of shield wires and phase wires 

Conductor No. 
Operating Phase-Phase 
[kV] 

Phase Angle [0] Function 
Phase Coordinates 

X [m] Y [m] 

1 - - Shield -1.5 35.5    

2 - - Shield 1.5 35.5  

3 150 0 R -2.05 30.73 

4 150 240 S -2.125 26.03 

5 150 120 T -2.2 21.33 

6 150 0 R' 2.05 30.73 

7 150 240 S' 2.125 26.03 

8 150 120 T' 2.2 21.33 

Span (Average) = 300 m 
Surge Impedance = 139 ohm 

 



F. Murdiya et al. / Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical Power, and Vehicular Technology 10 (2019) 49-59 

 
53 

By entering tower configuration data into 
Equations (5-8), the parameters for the tower 
replacement circuit were obtained in the ATP-EMTP 
software. Lines phases were modelled with LCC and 
the configuration of the circuit of sixline phases and 
two ground wires. The power transformer used was 
150 kV rms with a frequency of 50 Hz. Arrester was 
used by the model in Figure 4. 

The simulation method looked at the effect of 
lightning wave front (Tf) and lightning wave duration 
(tau) on lightning charge and lightning energy 
compared to the IEEE C62.11 standard. The peak 
voltage of the impulse generator (Heidler model) was 
10 MV. After overvoltage on the tower, a simulation 
was carried out to see the effect of TLA installation on 
the 150 kV transmission line. The back flash over 
model was also created with an automatical switch in 
microsecond order, for example, number 6 in Figure 
7. According to Table 2, the tower ground resistance 
is 10 Ohm. The number of TLA and TLA positions is the 
objective of this research. The model used in the 
simulation is given in Figure 7. 

III. Results and Discussions 

The variation of Tf of the lightning impulse 
modelled at ATM-EMTP is shown in Figure 8. The Tf 
value imputed on the Hiedler impulse generator 
model is 1.2, 2.4, 3.6, 4.8 µs. Next, the wavefront start 
value and tau value are set at 0.1 and 50 µs. After the 
Tf and data parameters are set, the impulse current 
flows through arresters in phase A because the 
isolator flashover process occurs in phase A. The 
characteristics of lightning impulse currents through 
arresters in phase A for variations of Tf are given in 
Figure 9. By using the trapezoidal numerical method, 
the current charge and impulse energy values can be 
solved by using current impulse data flowing in 
arrester A with a variation of Tf. For the comparison 
of the current charge, the change in Tf is still within 
the arrester resistance limit, which is in the range of 
3.5 C. However, the impulse energy values that occur 
in arresters on phase A have exceeded the energy 
resistance limit of the arrester, which is 11 kJ. The 
value of the current charge and impulse energy with 
variations of Tf is given in Figure 10 and Figure 11. It 

 

 

Figure 7. 150 kV overhead lines model: (1) Substation; (2) Lightning arrester; (3) LCC/Lines; (4) Multistory tower; (5) Power generator; 6. 
Impulse generator; (7) Footing resistance (Rf); (8) Switch for back flashover 



F. Murdiya et al. / Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical Power, and Vehicular Technology 10 (2019) 49-59 

 

54 

shows that the variation Tf of the lightning impulse 
influences the current charge and impulse energy 
values. Current and impulse energy values are 
proportional to Tf. By keeping the peak voltage of the 
impulse 10 MV and varying the Tf values, the impulse 
energy received by the arrester is greater than the 
standard value while the charge values are still below 
the standard. Impulse energy that exceeds this 
standard could result in a shorter lifetime of the 
arrester.  

In order to find out the effect of changes in tau 
value, this simulation was carried out by varying the 
tau values of 50, 70, 90, 110 and 130 µs. As for the 

values of Tsta and Tf are fixed, which is 0.1 and 1.2 µs. 

The value of the variation of the lightning impulse is 
shown in Figure 12 and Figure 13. By injecting 
lightning impulses into a 150 kV overhead lines 
model, this will cause arresters in phase A to work 
because the arresters are passed by the current after 

a flashover event of the insulator in phase A. The 
current charge and impulse energy can be solved 
using current data flowing in the arrester in phase A. 
These values are given in Figure 14 and Figure 15. It is 
shown that the tau value is proportional to the 
current charge. If the tau values exceed the 70 µs, the 
arrester will exceed the limit value (shown in yellow 
line). However, the value also affects the impulse 
energy value, which exceeds the standard value of 
arresters according to IEEE C62.11. The values of tau 
could affect the values of the charge and impulse 
energy that exceeds the standard. It is shown that tau 
can influence the arrester performance where the 
lifetime of arrester will be shorter than the variation 
of Tf. 

In order to figure out the effect of arrester 
performance, the installation locations of arresters 
are varied in this study. Figure 16 shows a simulation 
of a series of a lightning strike that grabs the ground 

 
 

Figure 8. Lightning impulse with Tf variations 
 

 
 

Figure 9. Current waves passing through arresters in phase A to variations of Tf 

 

 
 

Figure 10. Comparison of current charge values to variations of 

Tf 

 
 

Figure 11. Comparison of impulse energy values with Tf 

variations 



F. Murdiya et al. / Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical Power, and Vehicular Technology 10 (2019) 49-59 

 
55 

wire and propagates throughout the transmission 
lines. The carry out model is the insulator on tower 
number 4 during the flashover event and it causes an 
increase of voltage on the phase wire. The Tf, Tsta and 
tau values in this simulation are 1.2, 3, and 90 ms, 
respectively. The simulation results that were run on 
a series of a lightning strike on ground wires without 
mounting arresters can be seen in Figure 16. The 
values of the peak voltage of phase wire are 6.5078 
MV, 7.7113 MV, 8.6198 MV, 10 MV, 8.8588 MV, and 
8.3243 MV for tower numbers 1 to 6, respectively. 
This simulation also examines the effect of arrester 
performance in various arrester installation locations. 
Figure 17 shows a simulation of a series of the 

lightning strike with arresters placed on tower 1. The 

arrester on tower 1 has a voltage drop of 89.05 % 

with a voltage level of 0.7124 MV. Meanwhile, towers 
2 to 6 did not experience significant decreases of peak 

voltage, with the values of 10.99 %, 0.54 %, 0 %, 

0.81 %, and 0.8 %, respectively. 

The peak voltage of phase wires for towers 2 to 6 
are 6.9173 MV, 8.5731 MV, 10 MV, 8.7873 MV, and 
8.2579 MV, respectively. Figure 18 shows the 
simulation result with the placement of TLA on 
towers 1 and 5. The peak lightning voltage on the 
phase wires in each tower is different. The highest to 

 
 

Figure 14. Comparison of current charge values to tau variations 

 
 

Figure 15. Comparison of impulse energy values to tau variations 

 

 
 

Figure 12. Lightning impulse with tau variations 
 

 
 

Figure 13. Current waves through arrester in phase A after lightning currents are injected with variations of tau 



F. Murdiya et al. / Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical Power, and Vehicular Technology 10 (2019) 49-59 

 

56 

the lowest peak voltage is found in towers 4, 3, 2, 6, 5, 
and 1. The most significant decrease in peak voltage 
on phase wires is found between towers 1 and 5. The 
peak voltage drop on phase wires from towers 1 to 6 

are 89.67 %, 11 %, 0.52 %, 0 %, 84.61 %, 83.49 %, 

respectively, while the recorded peak voltage was 
0.7113 MV, 6.9167 MV, 8.5746 MV, 10 MV, 1.3636 MV, 
1.3746 MV, respectively. Moreover, the simulation 
results for the installation of arresters in towers 1, 2 
and 6 can be seen in Figure 19. From the graph above, 

 
 

Figure 16. Simulation result of the output of the lightning strike circuit without arrester 
 

 
 

Figure 17. Simulation results show a series of lightning strikes on transmission lines with arresters placed on tower 1 

 

 
 

Figure 18. Simulation result of a lightning strike on transmission lines with arresters placed on towers 1 and 5 
 



F. Murdiya et al. / Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical Power, and Vehicular Technology 10 (2019) 49-59 

 
57 

the data obtained for peak voltage on phase wires in 
towers 1 to 6 include 0.5153 MV, 0.8021 MV, 7.6114 
MV, 10 MV, 7.613 MV, 0.8971 MV, respectively and 
the percentages of reduction of peak voltage are 

92.08 %, 89.68 %, 11.69 %, 0 %, 14.04 %, 89.22 % for 

towers 1 to 6, respectively.  
The simulation results for the installation of 

arresters in towers 1, 3, 4 and 5 can be seen in Figure 

20. From the graph above, the data are as follows: the 
peak voltages of lightning on phase wire are 0.5471 

MV (decreased 91.59 %), 0.8519 MV (decreased 

89.04 %), 1.284 MV (decreased 85.1 %), 10 MV 

(decreased 0 %), 1.3615 MV (decreased 84.63 %), and 

1.3811 MV (decreased 83.41 %) for towers 1 to 6, 

respectively. Figure 21 is a simulation result with the 
placement of arresters in towers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. 

 
 

Figure 19. Simulation result of a lightning strike on transmission lines with arresters placed on towers 1, 2 and 6 

 

 
 

Figure 20. Simulation result of a lightning strike on transmission lines with arresters placed on towers 1, 3, 4 and 5 

 

 
 

Figure 21. Simulation result of a lightning strike on transmission lines with arresters placed on towers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 



F. Murdiya et al. / Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical Power, and Vehicular Technology 10 (2019) 49-59 

 

58 

The lightning peak voltages on phase wire are 0.4679 
MV, 0.5674 MV, 1.2248 MV, 10 MV, 1,2322 MV, and 
0.6219 MV for towers 1 to 6, respectively. The voltage 

drop values are as follows: 92.81 %, 92.64 %, 85.79 %, 

0 %, 86.09 %, and 92.53 % for towers 1 to 6, 

respectively. 
In addition, the location of lightning strikes on 

overhead lines does not have a significant effect on 
travelling waves with the theory of wave reflection 
and waves transmitted on the system. However, the 
location of the lightning strike still influences the 
overvoltage in the substation by changing the 
distance of the travelling wave towards the 
substation [27]. Then, the simulation results also 
show that the installation of arresters for all phases in 
several towers can reduce the overvoltage in the 
tower. This is in a good agreement with [28][29]. 
However, for economic and maintenance reasons, the 
installation of arresters should be on a tower that 
often gets lightning strikes. 

IV. Conclusion 

Based on the simulation and data analysis that has 
been done, some conclusions can be drawn: the 
variations of the wave front time duration (Tf) and 
strike duration (tau) on lightning impulses affect the 
current and integral currents that occur in arresters. 
Tsta variations in lightning impulses do not affect the 
current charge and impulse energy. Tf is proportional 
to current charge and impulse energy. The small tau 
leads to the current toward zero faster. Lightning 
strikes of 10 MV on the ground wire without 
mounting arresters resulted in the increases of 
voltage on the phase wires on tower 1 until 6 were 
6.5078 MV, 7.7113 MV, 8.6198 MV, 10 MV (tower had 
flashover event), 8.8588 MV and 8.3243 MV, 
respectively. After the installation of arresters in each 
tower for phase wires, the subsequent decrease of 
peak voltage on tower 1 until 6 were 0.4679 MV 

(92.81 %), 0.5674 MV (92.64 %), 1.2248 MV (85.79 %), 

10 MV (0 %), 1.2322 MV (86.09 %) and 0.6219 MV 

(92.53 %), respectively. Protection of the transmission 
line to reduce overvoltage in phase wires by installing 
arresters in each tower is better than installing the 
standing alone arrester or without installing any 
arresters. 

Acknowledgement 

We thank all those who have supported this 
research. 

Declarations  

Author contribution  

F. Murdiya contributed as the main contributor of this 
paper. All authors read and approved the final paper. 

Funding statement  

This research did not receive any specific grant from 
funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit 
sectors.  

Conflict of interest  

The authors declare no conflict of interest.  

Additional information  

No additional information is available for this paper. 

References 

[1] A. Borghetti et al., “ Lightning protection of a multi-circuit HV-
MV overhead line,”  Electric Power Systems Research, Vol. 180, 
pages 106-119, available online 3 December 2019. 

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