Protection of Medium Voltage Pole-mount Installations Against Lightning

Lightning causes numerous equipment failures which include transformers, fuses and surge arresters at pole-mount installations. Surge arresters are installed to protect equipment against lightning damage however, fuses and transformers still fail due to surge arrester failures, inadequate earthing configurations and high soil resistivity. Surge arrester failures occur due to high lightning density and high amplitude lightning strikes to the Medium Voltage overhead networks. This paper recommends an alternative network and earthing configuration to minimize surge arrester, transformer and fuse failures at Medium Voltage pole-mount installations.