1
Field Experience on the Application of Surge
Arresters on Transmission Lines
C. Romualdo-Torres
Abstract-- Comisión Federal de Electricidad, (CFE is the
Mexican Power Utility), has several thousand kilometers of 230
and 400 kV transmission lines (which are considered the main
transmission voltages) built along the country: 27,147 km and
28,144 km, respectively as per 2005, which are considered the
main transmission voltages. All these lines have seriously been
affected by lightning and those whose performance has been very
poor, were chosen under that criteria in order to be protected
with surge arresters even though the shielding angle and the
tower footing resistance may have been improved in several
structures, the evaluation will be considered before and after the
arrester installation.
This paper describes the IIE and CFE experiences
obtained during several years in the use of surge arresters
(externally gapped) on distribution and transmission lines that
run along different parts of the country. These lines usually had
many outage rates before being protected with surge arresters.
Index Terms— Lightning performance, ground flash density,
shielding angle, transmission line surge arrester, distribution line
surge arrester, shielding failure, backflashover, footing
resistance.
I. INTRODUCTION
L ightning is one of the main causes of problems on
transmission lines, this will usually happen when a stroke
hits: the phase conductor, the groundwire or directly the
structure. If the first case occurs, the line may have a shielding
failure. Meanwhile in the second or third cases, there may be a
backflashover, which generally depends on a high footing
resistance value. These problems can be mitigated in several
ways depending on the amount of investment the utility is
decided to spend. For example, if the only concern is how to
reduce the number of shielding failures, this can be done by
efficiently locating the groundwires in order to obtain an
effective shielding angle. The backflashover problem can also
be solved partially by reducing the footing resistance at critical
towers by traditional or artificial methods. However, if the soil
conditions do not permit the installation of a good footing
resistance, line arresters are a good alternative. Recently,
worldwide utilities have started installing metal oxide arresters
on their transmission lines.
Each utility defines the way the arresters are installed
depending on the number of failures the line has, by applying
C. Romualdo-Torres, Instituto de Investigaciones Eléctricas, Cuernavaca,
Mor., Mexico. (e-mail: crt@iie.org.mx).
F. Martínez-Fonseca, Comisión Federal de Electricidad, Mexico City,
Federal District. (e-mail: froylan.martinez@cfe.gob.mx).
978-1-4244-6547-7/10/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE
F. Martínez-Fonseca
different criteria mainly based on the utility´s field
experiences. For example: arresters can be installed on critical
areas or critical zones, which are defined by the line with the
greatest incidence of failures, which also depends on the
footing resistance value as well as the shielding angle.
This paper describes the IIE and CFE experiences
obtained during several years in the use of surge arresters
(externally gapped) on distribution and transmission lines that
run along different parts of the country. These lines usually
had many outage rates before being protected with surge
arresters.
Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) has several
thousand kilometers of 230 and 400 kV transmission lines
(which are considered the main transmission voltages) built
along the country: 27,147 km and 28,144 km, respectively as
per 2005, which are considered the main transmission
voltages. All these lines have seriously been affected by
lightning and those whose performance has been very poor,
were chosen under that criteria in order to be protected with
surge arresters even though the shielding angle and the tower
footing resistance may have been improved in several
structures, the evaluation will be considered before and after
the arrester installation [1].
One of the main commitments of the National
Mexican utility (CFE) is to guarantee the continuity of the
power supply through its owned transmission lines.
Unfortunately, the service is frequently interrupted by
lightning caused failures, which are really very severe in
several regions of the country, mainly in mountainous areas
where many of the main transmission lines are located.
During 2005, the lightning caused failure represented
42 % of the total failures, meanwhile in 2006 represented 49
% for 230 kV transmission lines. The same performance was
observed for 400 kV transmission lines, for 2005 and 2006,
the lightning causes failures represented 38 % and 47 %,
respectively.
Usually, transmission lines are protected by
groundwires, in order to avoid shielding failures. Most strokes
are expected to terminate on the groundwires. Under certain
conditions if the grounding resistance is high, there is a
probability of an insulation failure due to a backflashover. The
insulation failures may be reduced mainly in three ways:
reducing the tower footing resistance, locating properly the
groundwires or installing surge arresters.

The mounting schemes of surge arresters are of two
types: the arresters without any gap, which are connected
directly to the phase conductor line by means of a
disconnector, or the surge arrester externally with a series gap,
which will operate by an air gap adjusted to flashover value
before the insulator string can be flashed over by lightning
surges. All these improvements will permit to have lighter
arresters than the present designs [2].
A. Recent worldwide field experience with surge arrester
installation
Many utilities around the world have been worried
about the problems caused by lightning to transmission lines,
and several solutions have been used such as the improvement
of the shielding angle and the footing resistance. However,
some obtained results are not sufficient in order to reduce the
outages due to lightning, therefore the other cost effective
alternative is the installation of surge arresters in critical areas
combined in some cases with the improvements mentioned
before. Many field experiences have been obtained
successfully with the installation of arresters in several
countries such as: Brazil, Japan, as well as in Mexico.
The Brazilian Ouro Preto - Mariana 138 kV
transmission line which supplies energy to an industrial
customer was reported to have 41 outages/100 km/year. The
considered solution was the installation of arresters in all three
phases along all the structures. After this decision, failures in
above line were reduced virtually to zero [3].
For the last 25 years, externally gap surge arresters
have been used in Japan for 66 kV to 154 kV transmission
lines. However, new research and designs have been
developed for 275 kV transmission lines for further
compactness, the improvement of the zinc oxide material,
housing design as well as the optimum requirements for
mechanical strength.
In South Africa, lightning contributed about 23 % of
the total transmission line faults in the Eskom National
Transmission line grid (from 1993 to 2003). In the Northern
region there is a transmission line whose performance has
been very poor, where lightning has contributed with an
average of 63 % of the total faults during the last twelve years.
The line Foskor-Merensky 275 kV is 129 km long, with 344
towers of steel lattice, 343 selfsupporting type. It runs through
a mountainous terrain from about tower No. 200 to 275.
Critical areas are around tower 225 to 250 and as well as from
tower 270 to 280. The footing resistance has been improved
during the last couple of years, with an average measurement
between 9 and 13 Ohms, for the critical areas mentioned
above. According to studies, surge arresters should be
installed at the outer phases from tower 223 to 252 and from
tower 272 to 278. An improvement in the expected
performance in comparison with the actual performance will
be around 82 % [4].
2
B. Philosophy of surge arrester application
This section describes briefly the philosophy used for
the application of surge arrester in all transmission lines
studied in this paper. It is based on the following simple rules:
a) Outage rate statistic of the prospect transmission line,
at least of the last five years or before in order to
obtain the typical lightning performance of the line.
b) Grounding resistance measurements along conflictive
line areas.
c) Ground flash density along the line.
d) Terrain topography through the transmission line
route
e) Exposed towers over elevated mountainous areas
with slopes and ravines, long spans and scarce
vegetation.
Surge arresters are commonly used as follows: they
are only installed on critical sections of the line, or in regions
with rocky soil where soil resistivity is very high, because it is
considered cheaper to install arresters instead of improving the
soil resistivity for decreasing the tower footing resistance. The
importance of the critical loads connected to the line where the
line reliability must be high in spite of the costs It is also
considered.
Since 1999, the IIE and CFE started a research
project installing surge arresters externally gapped in several
230 kV transmission lines, with many successful results
decreasing drastically the lightning caused failures in those
equipped lines with this kind of arrester.
By 2004, the same arresters type, were installed in
other 400 kV transmission lines, with the same successful
results as obtained in 230 kV level. The description of the
results obtained for distribution and transmission lines are
shown in the following sections.
II. APPLICATION OF SURGE ARRESTERS ON
DISTRIBUTION LINES
A. 13.8 kV distribution line equipped with external gapped
arresters
The first field experience in Mexico in using metal
oxide surge arresters started in 1989, with a 5.5 km length
CFE MZT 4040 13.8 kV feeder was protected with surge
arresters in all its three phases along its 63 structures.
The grounding resistance for this line was kept under
14 Ohms using arrangements of parallel electrodes where it
was necessary.
Figure 1 shows the number of the recloser operations
at MZT 4040 distribution circuit, before and after the surge
arrester installation [5, 6]. This figure shows this line had a
very poor lightning performance from 1986 to 1989. However,
after installing the surge arresters, the line improved its
performance, reducing drastically the number of failures to
 3

practically zero [5, 6]. 1993 and 1994 after installing surge arresters and the number
and type of surge arresters [5, 6].

Table 1. La Angostura-Belizario Domínguez lightning

performance transmission line, before and after installing surge
arresters [5, 6].

1984- 1993 1994

1992 outage outage
Circuit Number and type
average rate after rate after
No. of surge arrester
outage surge surge
rate arresters arresters
External
73530 14.55 6 4 47 serial
gap
73520 14.5 8 4 40 Gapless
73560 14.88 8 5 60 Gapless

Figure 1. Recloser operations at MZT 4040 distribution circuit,
before and after the surge arrester installation [5, 6].
III. APPLICATION OF SURGE ARRESTERS ON
TRANSMISSION LINES
A. 115 kV transmission line equipped with external gapped
and gapless arresters
The installation of surge arresters for 115 kV lines
started in 1991 on a transmission line with a high outage rate
caused by lighting during thunderstorm periods. This line is
running at the Southern Mexican Chiapas State, which is
described in three parts as follows:
a) The first part of the line, coming from La Angostura
hydroelectric power plant is a double circuit 141
tower path identified as TL 73520. This line was
provided with 40 metal oxide arresters in 20 towers.
b) The second part is a single circuit line comprising
100 towers with 111 km line length, identified as TL
73530 which starts at tower number 141. This line
was provided with external series gap arresters [8] on
20 towers, most of them located on mountain ridges.
Outages reports showed them as highly exposed to
lightning damage. Arresters were installed at the
upper and bottom phases on 13 towers; the remaining
tower arresters were installed on the three phases.
c) The third part is a double circuit line which also
starts at tower number 141 with 226 towers with 159
km line length, identified as a double circuit TL
73540/73560, both branches finally join at
Mapastepec substation. The full line is called La
Angostura-Belizario Domínguez. TL 73560 was
provided with 60 arresters protecting upper and lower
phase conductors in 30 towers [5, 6].
Some parts of the line has long span lengths ranging
from about 900 to 1650 m, which is a factor that may
contribute to backflashover rates [9, 10].
Table 1 shows every circuit, the average outage rate
before installing surge arresters, the average outage rate for
B. Installation of 230 kV arresters with external series gap
Since 2002, when the program for the installation of
surge arresters on the MZD-93820-DGD transmission line
started, at least 61 have been installed along the line at the
outer phase conductors of the line with selected critical
regions of the line with the major lightning problems. This line
has 220 km in length, a single circuit, with two groundwires
on a horizontal configuration. However, it has always had
many problems due to lightning because it runs most of its
length across ridges and high altitude mountains. Lightning
storm seasons are very severe in these regions causing
considerable damages to line insulation and as a consequence
many line outages. Figure 2 shows the line performance
before and after the surge arrester installation [7]. Photograph
number 1 of Appendix I shows the typical field installation for
this kind of arresters.
Figure 2. Outages rates for MZD-93820-DGD transmission line [7].
This line has had a permanent maintenance program
for improving the footing resistance at critical towers as well
as the correction of the shielding angle for values near to a
zero angle or a negative value with the purpose of reducing the
shielding failure. The grounding resistance for this line where
arresters were installed was kept under 10 Ohms.
Even though, the installation of surge arresters began
on this line in 2002, the maintenance program is still
continuing up to now. The arresters were only installed at the

outer phases of the line selecting the structures located at the
critical sections of the line.
Figure 2 shows, that this line had a very poor
lightning performance from 1988 to 2000. However, with all
these corrections developed on the transmission line during
the line maintenance program and together with the
installation of surge arresters, good results have been obtained
since 2001, with decreasing outages of the line virtually to
zero.
C. Installation of 400 kV arresters with external series gap
Since 2004, the installation of surge arresters started
at the TUL-A3210-PRD transmission line. At least 13 surge
arresters were installed on critical areas of this line where
major problems exist. It has 203 km in length. It is a single
circuit line with two groundwires on a horizontal
configuration. However, this line has had many problems due
to lightning, because runs most of its course along ridges and
high altitude mountains at the Eastern part of the country.
Lightning storm seasons are very severe over this area,
causing several insulation damages and as a consequence
several line outages occur. Figure 3 shows the lightning
performance of line before and after the surge arrester
installation [7]. Photograph number 2 of Appendix I shows the
typical field installation for this kind of arresters.
Figure 3 shows that this line has had a very poor
lightning performance since 1990. However, corrections
developed to the transmission line during its line maintenance
program showed some improvements and good results have
been obtained since 2001, with a decrease of the outages of
the line. The surge arrester installation program started in
2002. The grounding resistance for this line where arresters
were installed was kept under 5 Ohms.
Figure 3. Outages rates for TUL-A3210-PRD transmission line [7].
The failures reported during the last two years (2005-
2006) occurred in those structures not protected with surge
arresters and were located outside the surge arrester protected
line area previously identified as the critical line area.
The DOG-A3210-PIT transmission line has 169 km
in length, a single circuit line with two groundwires on a
horizontal configuration. However, this line has had many
problems due to lightning because it runs most of its course
4
along ridges and high altitude mountains at the Central part of
the country. Lightning storm seasons are very severe causing
several insulation damages and as a consequence several line
outages. Since 2005, at least 18 surge arresters have been
installed on the line areas where major problems exist.
Figure 4 shows, that this line had a very poor
lightning performance from 1997 to 2002. However, with
footing resistance and shielding angle corrections developed
on the transmission line during the permanent maintenance
program and together with the installation of surge arresters,
good results have been obtained since 2005, with a decrease of
the outages of the line to a reasonable value.
The grounding resistance for this line where arresters
were installed was kept under 10 Ohms.
Figure 4. Outages rates for DOG-A3210-PIT transmission line [7].
The failure recorded for this line during 2006
occurred in a structure that was not protected with surge
arresters.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
1] MZT 4040 distribution circuit had a very poor
lightning performance from 1986 to 1989. However, after
installing the surge arresters, the line improved its
performance reducing drastically to a number of failures that
is practically zero.
2] Transmission line La Angostura-Belizario
Dominguez showed a good improvement after installing surge
arresters reducing the failures by around a 53 % of the total
outages.
3] The installation of surge arresters and the
improvement of the tower footing resistance together with the
shielding angle of the 230 kV MZD-93820-DGD transmission
line as well as for the 400 kV TUL-A3210-PRD and DOG-
A3210-PIT transmission lines those were the main issues that
permitted to obtain good results in their lightning
performance. It is important to note that the surge arresters
installed in structures located in critical areas selected
according to the historical information provided by the field
line trip out records were very important.
4] As the lightning performance of 230 and 400 kV
transmission has improved with surge arresters, this has
encouraged CFE, to continue with its surge arrester
installation expansion plans for the most conflictive

transmission lines in order to improve their lightning
performance.
Appendix I
Typical installation of external gapped surge arresters
for 230 and 400 kV transmission lines
Picture number 1. Typical installation of an external gapped arrester
for a 230 kV transmission line [7].
Picture number 2. Typical installation of an external gapped arrester
for a 400 kV transmission line [7].
V. REFERENCES
[1] Failures, Statistics and relevant works on transmission lines,
Coordinación de Transmisión, Gerencia de Líneas de
Transmisión, CFE, 2005, (in Spanish).
[2] K. Tsuge K., N. Yamada. Application Technology of Lightning
Arrester for 275 kV Transmission Line. 28th International
Conference on Lightning Protection, Kanazawa, Japan, 2006.
[3] J. L. De Franco J. L, A. C. G. Bezerra, A. D. Andrade.
Improvement of the Transmission Lines Lightning Performance
Using Line Arresters: Experience of the Brazilian Utilities. Paper
A3-102, CIGRE 2006.
5
[4] L. P. Peter. Use of Line Surge Arresters to improve Lightning
performance of a 275 kV line: A South African Pre-Engineering
Case Study. 28th International Conference on Lightning
Protection. Kanazawa, Japan, 2006.
[5] F. De la Rosa F., R. Velazquez. Application of MOSA in T&D
Systems in Mexico. IEEE T&D Conference Procceedings, pp.
248-254, Los Angeles CA., Sept 15-20, 1996, ISBN 0-7803-
3522-8/96.
[6] G. Enriquez, R. Velazquez R., C. Romualdo. Mexican experience
with the application of transmission line arresters, paper C4-106,
CIGRE 2006.
[7] Lightning Field Performance of 230 and 400 kV Transmission
Lines with Surge Arresters, IIE, Internal project report 13153,
November 2006, (in Spanish).
[8] Furukawa S., Usuda O., Izosaki T., Irie T. Development and
Application of Lightning Arresters for Transmission Lines.
IEEE Trans. on PWR-D, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 2121-2129, October
1989.
[9] CIGRE WG 33-01, Guide to Procedures for Estimating the
Lightning Performance of Transmission Lines. CIGRE
Monograph No. 63, October 1991.
[10] Hileman A. R. Insulation. Coordination for Power Systems.
Marcel Dekker, Inc. ISBN 0-8247-9957-7, 1999.
VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to CFE engineers: José
Carlos Villicaña Coronado, Agustín Villavicencio Valadez,
Fernando Guadalupe González, Antonio Paniagua Silva,
Diego Durán Insunza, David Solís Corral, José Villanueva
Gutiérrez as well as Ernesto Escenaro Marín for all the
unvaluable information provided for this research.
VII. BIOGRAPHIES
C. Romualdo-Torres obtained his BS in Electrical
Engineering from Oaxaca Institute of Technology (Mexico) in
1976, his MSEE from the National Polytechnic Institute
(Mexico) in 1981, and his PhD degree from The University of
Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST,
United Kingdom) and The Victoria University of Manchester,
in 1996. During his stay at UMIST, he was also involved in
graduate and undergraduate teaching duties, making insulation
tests and partial discharges measurements for underground
cables at the HV Laboratory. Since 1978, he has been working
with the Institute for Electrical Research in Cuernavaca,
Morelos (México). His current interests are related to:
lightning field measurements, development of analytical
lightning models, the study of the lightning effects and
protection practices for transmission and distribution lines and
substations.
F. Martínez-Fonseca obtained his BS in Electrical and
Mechanical Engineering from the National University
Autonomous of Mexico in 1980. Since 1981 he has been
mainly engaged in CFE, on the design and maintenance of
substations and transmission lines. From 2007 to date, he is
the Manager of the National Transmission Line Grid of CFE.