This is a difficult question and depends on many aspects including – site exposure, regional is okeraunic levels and utility supply. A statistical study of lightning strike probability reveals that the average lightning discharge is between 30 and 40kA, while only 10% of lightning discharges exceed 100kA. Given that a strike to a transmission feeder is likely to share the total current received into anumber of distribution paths, the reality of the surge current entering a facility can be very much less than that of the lightning strike which precipitate it.
The ANSI/IEEE C62.41.1-2002 standard seeks to characterize the electrical environment at different locations throughout a facility. It defines the service entrance location as between a B and C environment, meaning that surge currents up to 10kA 8/20 can be experienced in such locations. This said,SPDs located in such environments are often rated above such levels to provide a suitable operating life expectancy, 100kA/phase being typical.