Manufacturing silicon lighting rods will save $10 million in foreign exchange costs every year, said the chairman of the board of Simcatec Co., a producer of electrical equipment.
Amir Naser Sirafian said Simcatec has established the first production line of silicon lightning rods in Iran, also the first in the Middle East, with a capacity to manufacture an estimated 25,000 rods per year, IRNA reported.
“Domestically manufactured lighting rods are competitive in terms of pricing with foreign brands,” he said, adding that Iranian power companies had to import foreign equipment in the past to curb/arrest electrical currents of 63 kilovolts or higher.
A lightning rod is a metal pole mounted atop a building that draws lightning’s electrical charge away from the structure. The rod is attached to a cable connected to an underground conductive grid. This allows for passing extremely high currents to the ground and dissipating lightning harmlessly.
If lightning hits a structure without lightning rod protection, it could start a fire or cause electrocution.
According to reports 48% of power outages in China and 30% of blackouts in the US are caused by lightning strikes on buildings, but deploying lighting rods can significantly reduce physical and financial damage.
