Lightning Perfomance of the New 500 kV Italian OHLs: The Milano Montalto Case

Terna, the Italian Transmission System Operator, is developing new extra high voltage backbones to accommodate the significant growth of non-programmable renewable energy installations expected in Italy over the coming decades. One of these connections is the Milano-Montalto link, an HVDC project at <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\pm 500 \text{kV}$</tex>, which includes both submarine cable and overhead line sections. This paper focuses on the verification of the overhead line design through lightning performance simulations, evaluating shielding failure and back flashover events for the <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\pm 500 \text{kV}$</tex> OHLs section of the Milano-Montalto link.