AbstractThere are two major protective methods against lightning outages on overhead distribution lines. One is by use of surge arresters and the other is by an overhead ground wire. Surge arresters have rather constant effect regardless of the type of lightning outage causes. On the other hand, the effect of an overhead ground wire is quite different against the two major causes: direct lightning hit and induced overvoltages. This paper shows how to design lightning protection for overhead power distribution lines taking these characteristics into account. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.