Voltage Transients in a Distribution Network Correlated with Events Identified by a Lightning Location System

Monitoring units for the measurement of high frequencyvoltage transients have been in operation at three different busses of an Italian medium voltage (MV) distribution feeder, mainly composed by overhead lines, in March 2007 – August 2008. The feeder is located in a region characterized by a high ground flash density value (4 flashes/km2/yr); many of the recorded voltage transients may be correlated with the lightning events detected for the same region by the Lightning Location System (LLS) CESISIRF. The paper presents some experimental results obtained using the monitoring units and their comparison with computer results obtained using a LIOV-EMTP model of the considered MV feeder. A procedure aimed at achieving the best fit between measurements and calculations, which takes into account the uncertainties associated with LLS data, is also presented.