The paper investigates the energy capability of ZnO line arresters installed along transmission lines for lightning performance improvement purposes. The electromagnetic transient simulations are performed using PSCAD. A 230kV line case study is presented comparing the arresters energy levels when arresters are installed in every tower and when they are installed only in a few selected towers. A cost-benefit analysis is performed and the results show that, for lightning strikes to towers (back-flashover outages), when arresters are installed in every tower, their energy capability has to be higher than when they are installed in selected towers. The use of a smaller number of line arresters with lower energy capability allows a reduction in the overall cost of the system at an acceptable lightning performance level. The study shows that, for lines where some lightning related outages is acceptable, the installation of line arresters in a few selected structures is a good solution from both technical and economical points of view.
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