avoiding the use of protection wire  and tubular rods of 35-150 kV for lightning protection  of overhead power lines and substations in conditions  of Far North

This work considers the problem of lightning protection of 35-150 kV overhead power lines and substations in conditions of the Far North of the Russian Federation. The alternative methods of organizing lightning protection are described in this paper, since conclusions, suggested by the Electrical Installation Code, are not able to provide the required level of lightning protection. Recent research shows that the lightning protection of overhead power lines and substations in conditions of the Far North can be arranged without protection wire and tubular rods, which is recommended by EIC. As an alternative the authors offer the following measures to improve the level of protection for these overhead power lines and substations: equipping the overhead power lines with suspended surge protector devices (SPD), launching the last generation SPD at substations, the cascade scheme of lightning protection, using smart polymer arresters. In addition, it’s mentioned that the switching resource of the HV circuit breaker is not fully utilized, whereas it’s a reserve to improve lightning protection.