Lighting Protection of VSC-HVDC Transmission Systems using ZnO Surge Arresters

This paper proposes an analysis of the lightning performance of High Voltage Direct Current – HVDC transmission systems with Voltage Source Converters – VSCs. The lightning protection is composed of AC metal-oxide surge arresters at the sending and receiving ends of a HVDC transmission line. These lightning protection devices are designed to operate under AC power signal; nevertheless, there are several applications in which conventional AC surge arresters have been used in HVDC transmission systems with Line Commuted Converters – LCCs. In this context, this paper investigates the performance of this same lightning protection apparatus when applied to a VSC-HVDC transmission systems.