Power outages in the Western Division caused by lightning strikes could be a thing of the past when Energy Fiji Limited completes the installation of lightning surge arrestors.
According to EFL, the installation would address power disruptions and infrastructure damage caused by the weather phenomenon.
“Power disruptions due to lightning strikes on EFL infrastructure have, over the years, contributed to unplanned outages, especially during the hot, humid months of November to April,” an EFL statement stated.
“EFL is taking measures to minimise disruptions caused by lightning, a natural electrical discharge that occurs between storm clouds and the ground, or within clouds themselves.”
The authority states lightning surge arrestors are critical devices in electrical distribution and transmission networks.
“When installed, they protect circuits from voltage spikes caused by lightning or switching surges by safely diverting excess voltage to ground. If a spike exceeds the device’s capacity, circuit breakers automatically trip to prevent the high voltage from reaching customer installations which can cause temporary outages.
“To safely facilitate these works, EFL will de-energise the 132kV transmission line between the Nadarivatu switching station and the Vuda zone substation during the scheduled period (on November 16).”
