Transformer and Reactor Procurement

He has been an active member of CIGRE for many years.  He was a member of working groups A2.27 on condition monitoring facilities, A2/B4.28 on HVDC transformers, and A2.37 on transformer reliability.  He was also regular member for Brazil on SC A2 between 2014 and 2020.

Tom Breckenridge was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1955. He studied electrical and electronic engineering at the University of Glasgow between 1973 and 1977. He joined the South of Scotland Electricity Board in 1978, initially as an operational engineer within the distribution field. A move to transmission substation design followed in 1996, where he also assumed the role as principal transformer expert for Scottish Power responsible for specification purchasing and approval of all transformers. Leaving Scottish Power in 2006, he founded TB TCS Ltd through which he provides specialist services in the field of large power transformers on a global basis, primarily operating in the procurement area.

Mike Lamb was born in the USA in 1966. He is currently manager of electric transmission operations engineering in the power delivery group at Dominion Energy in Richmond Virginia, USA. He joined Dominion Energy in 1988 and has held several engineering positions during his career with experience in electric substation and transmission line design and maintenance, distribution system planning and operations, and system operations contingency analysis and transmission open access. Prior to his current position, he was principal engineer in electric transmission operations engineering responsible for the technical oversight of the power transformer procurement process in support of all Dominion Energy’s business units. Mike now leads a team of specialized engineers responsible for major electric transmission equipment specifications; system analysis, technical investigations and root cause analyses, and providing analysis and guidance for emerging technological challenges.

He became a member of CIGRE in 2007. Mike was a member of CIGRE working group A2.36 on transformer procurement and secretary of CIGRE working group A2.48 on shunt reactors, and he is secretary of CIGRE working group A2.58 on installation and pre-commissioning. He has been an active member of CIGRE USNC and was a recipient in 2018 of the Attwood Associate Award.

Tara-Lee MacArthur studied electrical engineering at Queensland University of Technology from 2008 to 2011, graduating with a BEng. She works for an Australian energy utility as a substation design standards engineer and is noted for her work on power transformer specification and design and transformer life management. She is a member of the CIGRE Australia A2 mirror panel (since 2015) and director of the CIGRE Australia Board (since 2020). She has been an active member within CIGRE internationally as secretary of CIGRE Working Group A2.49 between 2016 and 2019 and has been chair of A2 AG.2 on tutorials since 2020. She is a registered professional engineer in Queensland, Australia.

Simon Ryder was born in England in 1973. He studied engineering science at St John’s College, Oxford University, between 1992 and 1996. He worked for GEC Alsthom and later Alstom, between 1997 and 2003, in transformer design, development, and eventually research. He is known for his work on thermal characteristics of transformers and frequency response analysis (FRA). He joined Doble in 2003, initially working mainly on transformer life management. Since 2009, he has worked mainly on transformer procurement, especially supplier qualification and development.

He is a senior member of IEEE-PES, a fellow of IET, and a chartered engineer. He was a member of CIGRE working groups A2.36 on transformer procurement, D1/A2.47 on advances in DGA interpretation, and A2.58 on transformer installation, pre-commissioning, and trial operation, and was convenor of CIGRE working group A2.48 on shunt reactors. He was chairman of CIGRE Committee A2 on power transformers and reactors between 2016 and 2020. He is editor-in-chief of this Green Book.