The Difference Between Streamers and Leaders

A clear distinction between the terms “streamer” and “leader” only begins to appear in the early 1960s, just before the development of the first 500 kV lines, as part of research into air clearances during system over-voltages. Shortly afterwards the terms began to appear in the lightning literature. However, to this day you can still find lightning protection documents and practitioners referring to streamers as leaders and leaders as streamers. In this short presentation we try to clarify the distinction and further the convention developed in the electric power industry.