According to scientists, at any time, on Earth we are living with about 2,000 active thunderstorms. Each average storm usually lasts two to four hours and can produce 1,000 or 2,000 discharge cycles on the ground. It has been used as a power plant with a capacity of several hundred megawatts with a potential voltage of up to billions of volts, the power of a lightning bolt in a thunderstorm can be used to light a 100w bulb in round 3 months. With such intensity, thunderstorms are one of the most dangerous natural disasters for human life and cause great damage to material possessions.
In 1769, humanity was not aware of the current lightning protection devices. A catastrophe occurred when lightning struck a stockpile of more than 1000 tons in an Italian city. The building blasted and killed more than 3,000 people living in the city. Until Franklin's first invention of the lightning rod was born, the terrible damage caused by lightning did not materialize. Since then, although not completely managed, lightning protection devices have contributed to significantly reducing the damage caused by lightning to protect human life. Over the last 200 years since the first lightning rod appeared, the lightning protection technology has been improved and more efficient.
In 2001, the power sector in Vietnam had about 400 incidents, of which 50% were caused by lightning. Particularly, on June 4, 2001, lightning strike a 220 KV breaker of Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant. The incident caused the northern power grid to break down, many power plants were separated from the system. Hanoi and many other provinces have lost power on a large scale.
Lightning density map worldwide - Vietnam is a country with a lot of lightning, about 20 times / 1 km2 / 1 year.