Characteristics of Damages of Distribution Lines Due to Lightning in Hokuriku Area of Japan

In Hokuriku area of Japan, lightning occurs frequently not only in summer but also in winter. Winter lightning strikes have very large electric charge as compared with summer lightning strikes. For Example, surge arresters are sometimes damaged by direct lightning strikes, especially in winter. In order to prevent outages of distribution lines due to lightning, it is important to investigate lightning damages of distribution lines and consider lightning protection measures against them. In this paper, we present characteristics of damages of distribution lines due to lightning in Hokuriku area.