On February 1, the technical brochure titled “Lightning Transient Sensing, Monitoring and Application in Electric Power Systems” (TB955), developed by CIGRE Working Group C4.61, was officially approved by CIGRE’s central office and published on their website. This technical brochure was completed after four years of work. Professor He Jinliang from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronics (EEA), Tsinghua University served as the convener of this working group, with Professor Hu Jun and Dr. Ouyang Yong from Tsinghua University's Sichuan Energy Internet Research Institute as core members, and Professor Yang Qing from Chongqing University as the secretary of the group.

Cover of the CIGRE C4.61 Working Group Technical Brochure

CIGRE (International Council on Large Electric Systems) is the most important international organization in the field of large power grids, founded in March 1921. CIGRE holds an international conference with a council, executive committee, technical committee, academic committee, central office, and national committees from member countries. Its purpose is to promote the exchange of scientific and technical knowledge in the fields of power generation, high-voltage transmission, and large power grids. There are 16 technical committees in four areas: electrical equipment, electrical technology, power systems, and electrical new materials and information technology. Each technical committee forms 1-2 working groups annually to study new challenges and solutions in their respective fields. C4.61 was formally established by CIGRE’s C4 Committee in 2021, with 22 experts and scholars from the power industry and universities across the United States, Japan, the UK, Italy, Brazil, Norway, Croatia, Malaysia, South Africa, and China. The work of C4.61 took nearly four years, during which several international seminars were held in cities like Paris and Beijing.

Every year, there are 1.4 billion lightning strikes globally, making it one of the two most severe weather disasters, causing 40-60% of power outages, and sometimes leading to large-scale power failures. Lightning protection systems are the cornerstone of power grid safety and even public safety. The intelligent monitoring and digital transformation of transmission lines and power grids have become critical needs for modern power systems.

In recent years, with the rapid development of smart grid construction, advancements in sensor technology, device manufacturing, and sensor communication networks have driven rapid progress in voltage and current sensing and monitoring technologies. Low-cost, high-precision voltage and current sensors and their monitoring systems have begun to be applied in transmission and distribution lines and substations, laying a solid physical foundation for the realization of smart grids. Precise distributed measurements can not only provide key fingerprint information on lightning faults (such as transient voltage and current amplitudes, frequencies, and waveforms), but also reveal critical parameters such as traveling wave speed, frequency variations, attenuation, dispersion, and distortion during transient processes. By using distributed sensors to collect data and combining machine learning or artificial intelligence algorithms, effective support can be provided for lightning protection designs, fault location, transient voltage monitoring, fault identification, and other fault analysis methods.

The TB955 technical brochure, developed by CIGRE C4.61, systematically reviews advanced lightning transient voltage/current sensing technologies, sensor application technologies, data mining and analysis methods, and the basic applications of distributed sensing systems in power systems. The real-time panoramic data provided by the sensing system will strongly support the digital upgrade and intelligent operation of power systems, promoting the evolution of power systems into massive artificial intelligence bodies.

Core Contents of CIGRE TB955 Technical Brochure:

Chapter 1 introduces the development status of advanced lightning transient voltage/current sensors in power systems, including capacitive voltage sensors, piezoelectric and electro-optic voltage sensors, and magnetoresistive and magneto-optic current sensors.

Chapter 2 discusses sensor miniaturization technologies, calibration methods, time synchronization, wireless communication systems, and low-power energy supply technologies. It outlines the principles and implementation paths for building low-cost distributed sensor networks to monitor lightning transient voltage and current.

Chapter 3 uses big data mining techniques to analyze the lightning transient voltage and current characteristics in AC transmission lines and substations, DC transmission lines and converter stations, and distribution networks, constructing characteristics and fingerprint information for lightning transient propagation along transmission lines to substations.

Chapter 4 discusses the practical applications of distributed sensor monitoring networks in lightning fault location, fault type identification, and lightning wave intrusion analysis, and looks at the potential applications of this technology in new power systems.

Additionally, CIGRE invited Professor He Jinliang to give a 90-minute global online technical seminar on January 21, 2025, introducing the technical guidelines to scholars and technicians worldwide.

Technical Brochure Link:

https://www.e-cigre.org/publications/detail/955-lightning-transient-sensing-monitoring-and-application-in-electric-power-systems.html

Technical Seminar Video Link:

https://www.e-cigre.org/publications/detail/wbn062-lightning-transient-sensing-monitoring-and-application-in-electric-power-systems.html#pVideos