EPRI, which is funded by power companies, is looking at ways to protect the United States' power grid from lightning strikes.

由电力公司资助的 EPRI 正在寻找保护美国电网免受雷击的方法。

'We can cause the lightning to strike where we want it to using rockets, ' says Ralph Bernstein, manager of lightning projects at EPRI.

EPRI 闪电项目经理拉尔夫·伯恩斯坦 (Ralph Bernstein) 表示，“我们可以使用火箭让闪电击中我们想要的地方”。

But they have not yet come up with the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system, by making the lasers yet smaller and cheaper.

但他们尚未拿出 EPRI 所说的 500 万美元资金来开发商业系统，使激光器变得更小、更便宜。

Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely - and safety is a basic requirement since no one wants to put themselves or their expensive equipment at risk.

Diels 正在领导一个由 EPRI 支持的项目，尝试使用激光安全地释放闪电——安全是一项基本要求，因为没有人愿意将自己或昂贵的设备置于危险之中。