High-voltage expert

Mark Waldron

Mark Waldron, the newly appointed Chair of TC 17, will begin his tenure in May 2025. He is a widely experienced and respected expert of power transmission in the utility environment. Throughout a 35-year career, Mr Waldron has held numerous technical and managerial roles with the UK's National Grid Electricity Transmission.<_o3a_p>

In these positions, he oversaw all aspects of transmission equipment life cycle with a special focus on standardization, specification and testing. His numerous responsibilities included innovation and research, replacement and refurbishment, regulatory strategy, safety risk assessment and end of life planning, to name but a few.<_o3a_p>

He has been active in the IEC for many years, notably leading one of TC 17 subcommittees, SC 17 A, whose scope is to prepare international standards, technical specifications and technical reports related to switching devices having a rated voltage above 1 kV alternating current (AC) and/or above 1,5 kV direct current (DC). He is also a member of the British Standards Institution (BSI) and has held numerous positions in CIGRE. He has notably been the past convenor of a joint IEC CIGRE coordination group for ultra-high voltage (UHV) standardization, which led to the setting up of IEC TC 122, which prepares standards for UHV AC transmission systems.

"I'm excited to be taking on the leadership of TC 17 at such a pivotal time for the global electric power industry. The energy transition demands timely and effective standardization, more than ever before. Greater levels of power system interconnection at all voltage levels, using ac and dc technologies, the huge growth in industry participants, the imperative for greater environmental responsibility, and the enormous growth in the data and digital fields, all impact the ongoing and future work of TC 17 and its subcommittees. I look forward to working closely with other relevant committees to develop new, and refining existing, standards which are fit for the evolving energy system," he says. <_u53a_p><_o3a_p>

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