How much lightning risk is your facility actually carrying? Without a quantitative assessment, the answer is a guess, and protection decisions either leave critical systems exposed or over-invest where it doesn't reduce risk.
Aetheric quantifies the probability and consequences of lightning strikes to your facility, identifies specific vulnerabilities, and shows the economic justification for every recommended measure. Real lightning data, internationally recognised methodology, defensible numbers for capital approval.
Why Risk Assessment Matters
Risk assessment provides the analytical foundation for lightning protection system design. Rather than applying generic protection measures, a quantitative assessment enables targeted, cost-effective solutions matched to each facility's specific exposure and criticality. This approach ensures protection investments are justified by measurable risk reduction, and provides the documentation needed for regulatory compliance, insurance discussions, and capital expenditure approval.
For regulated industries and critical and high-value infrastructure operators, formal assessment per IEC 62305-2:2024 or AS/NZS 1768:2021 demonstrates due diligence and supports safety management and asset integrity compliance.
Assessment Methodology
Every Aetheric risk assessment runs on Skytree Scientific's LRAplus platform, AI-assisted calculations against real-time lightning location system (LLS) data, fully aligned with IEC 62305-2:2024, AS/NZS 1768:2021, and NFPA 780 Annex L.
Real-Time Lightning Data
The platform uses actual flash density and strike point density data for your facility location, drawn from ground-based detection networks, rather than outdated keraunic estimates or regional averages.
Multi-Variable Risk Calculation
Risk calculations cover structure characteristics, connected services (power, telecoms, pipelines), internal systems including SPDs, and consequence factors across safety, service continuity, cultural heritage, and economic impact.
The 2024 third edition of IEC 62305-2 modernises the methodology with the single-risk concept (combining loss of human life and loss due to fire), frequency of damage for internal-system availability, ground strike-point density (NSG) replacing flash density (NG), direct strike to people in open areas as a recognised risk, and thunderstorm warning systems per IEC 62793 as risk-reducing protection.
This methodology pinpoints dominant risk contributors so protection investment goes where it does the most work.
Inside the Platform, Skytree LRAplus®
Every Aetheric risk assessment is powered by Skytree LRAplus®, our AI-assisted platform built on IEC 62305-2:2024. Click through the workflow below to see how we move from input to verified output.
Data Integration & Analysis
Aetheric integrates multiple data sources to ensure assessment accuracy:
- Lightning data: historical strike data from ground-based detection networks, providing precise flash density measurements for the facility vicinity
- Facility parameters: structural dimensions, materials, occupancy, and operational characteristics documented through site surveys and client interviews
- Equipment inventory: consequence analysis quantifying potential losses from various failure scenarios
- Connected services: evaluation of power lines, telecommunications, pipelines, and other services entering the facility
Both direct strikes and indirect effects (strikes to connected services, nearby EMF coupling) are evaluated. Protection measure effectiveness, external LPS, internal SPDs, is quantified across scenarios so the overall design is optimised against measured exposure.
Regulatory Compliance
Our risk assessments comply fully with the internationally recognised frameworks governing lightning risk analysis:
Regional variations and local authority requirements are accommodated through our standards knowledge across New Zealand, APAC, the Middle East and West Africa. Documentation supports due diligence, capital approval, and asset integrity compliance.
Industry Applications
Risk assessment requirements vary significantly across sectors. We tailor our methodology to address the specific consequence profiles and regulatory obligations of each industry.
Data Centres
Quantification of downtime costs, data loss, and equipment exposure, sized to justify protection investment in high-availability environments where short outages compound fast.
Learn more about our data centre solutions →Energy & Renewables
Safety risk, environmental incident probability, and production loss across power generation, transmission, and distribution, including geographically distributed wind and solar assets.
Explore our energy sector experience →Critical Infrastructure
Public safety implications, service disruption impacts, and national security considerations for transportation, communications, water, and government facilities.
View critical infrastructure solutions →Oil & Gas
Risk quantification addressing explosion hazards, classified area requirements, environmental incident probability, and regulatory compliance for offshore platforms, refineries, and storage.
See our oil & gas capabilities →What You'll Receive
Every risk assessment engagement produces a complete, auditable documentation package:
Related Services
Risk assessment is the starting point for informed protection decisions. These complementary services build on your assessment findings: