The impact of distributed generation to the lightning protection of modern distribution lines

The distributed generation (DG) has become very popular in recent years mainly due to their high efficiency, their benefits to distribution networks (e.g., improvement of voltage profiles and load factor, reduction of power losses, delivery of backup power, elimination of system upgrades, etc.) and their low emissions. On the other hand the continuous installation of DGs has raised several different issues that need to be considered. Lightning constitutes one of the main factors of failures in distribution lines and therefore the lightning performance of modern distribution lines with DGs is one of the issues that needs to be further studied. The lightning protection of the lines and the reduction or elimination of faults are mainly based on the protection measures undertaken by the electric utilities. In this work the impact of DG to the lightning protection of distribution lines is studied through extensive simulations that consider different factors that influence the efficiency of the protection systems and the developed overvoltages. The paper aims to contribute in the more effective lightning protection of modern distribution lines.