The IEEE PES webinar was delivered by Mr Stephen Horsley, director of Sertec SRL and IPEC UK, at 2 pm on 30th November 2022. Mr Stephen Horsley is experienced in EMI systems and lightning protection. He has the Qualification London City and Guilds in Production engineering. The topic for this webinar is ‘Technology Advancements in Lightning Protection – Deionisation’.

This webinar was organized by the IEEE Power & Energy Society UK and Ireland Chapter and hosted by the University of Birmingham (UoB) IEEE Student Branch (PES Chapter). There were 47 registrations and 17 attendees for this event.

Dr Nan Chen, the Chair of the UoB IEEE Student Branch, opened the event by welcoming everyone and gave a brief introduction to the student branch, before introducing the speaker, Mr Stephen Horsley to the audience.

Mr Stephen Horsley firstly introduced a lightning-monitoring website to help the audience have a better understanding of the lightning. Lightning strikes and thunderstorms in Europe and UK were analysed as a case study.

To assist the audience better comprehend the formation of lightning, videos and GIFs were presented, e.g., tracking the movement of the positive and negative electrons.

To prevent the detrimental sequences of more than 500,000 times of lightning strikes per year, Mr Stephen Horsley introduced a series of technologies, including Franklin Rod 1752, ESE (Early Steamer Emitter) and DAS (Dissipation Array System) in early times, which was proved by Nikola Tesla in early the 20 centrary that Franklin Rod is a danger to society.

Mr. Stephen Horsley demonstrated cutting-edge innovations and patents based on the advancements of Nikola Tesla’s concepts. In the end, related products of preventing lighting and their applications, e.g., installations on boats, airports, renewable energy generation stations and electrical substations, were also presented.

The presentation lasted for one hour and was followed by a 20-minute Q&A session, during which Mr Stephen Horsley provided relevant examples and valuable resources in response to audience questions.

By Nan Chen

Chair, UoB IEEE Student Branch