Visualization and analysis of atmospheric electric field local profile - REMOTE-E network

Direct and indirect lightning strokes can cause severe overvoltages in distribution networks and, consequently, failures and power outages, due to insulation problems and equipment damages along the network. In order to assist the analysis of lightning effects in power quality indices, we present in this paper, a detailed analysis of the local electric field, combined with the information from Lightning Location Systems (LLS) and voltage waveforms recorded in the distribution network. The proposed analysis is performed in a monitoring network that was particularly designed for the approach presented in this paper. The monitoring network is composed by four Campbell Field Mill sensors, four waveform recorders and the LLS information. Based on the local electric field profile, it is possible to confirm (or reject) lightning activity in the region under analysis, by comparing the information recorded by these three sources of information. Finally, we present some initial case studies addressing the advantages and main limitations of the proposed approach.