Lightning was a form of static electricity as was first proven by Benjamin Franklin. The Tenth Doctor claimed to have helped him with that discovery. (TV: Smith and Jones)
Penelope Gate used a lightning strike to charge up a time machine built by herself. (PROSE: The Room With No Doors)
The Doctor wanted to take Martha Jones to Cotter Paluni's World to see the lightning skies. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan)
Martha Jones used the energy of a lightning strike to kill the Dalek pig slaves. (TV: Evolution of the Daleks)
In order to destroy the Cybermen in 19th century Klimtenburg, the Eleventh Doctor used multiple lightning strikes to charge Victor Ernhard with power which he then sent into the Cyber-network through the Watchman's Oracle, overloading and destroying the Cybermen who had been using lightning to try to reenergise themselves and their ship. (PROSE: Plague of the Cybermen)
In 1977, the Fourth Doctor described the manner in which a Fendahl core travelled to Earth, saying it used "that enormous stockpile of energy [contained in the core] to project itself across space". Leela compared this to the way lightning travelled, a simile the Doctor partly approved of. (TV: Image of the Fendahl)
In 2009, Rani Chandra believed that the strange lights that had been seen around the BT Tower were not bolts of lightning, as reported in the Ealing Echo, but an alien spacecraft. However, Sarah Jane Smith had Mr Smith investigate and he determined that it was in fact lightning. (TV: The Mad Woman in the Attic)
