OREANDA-NEWS.  January 25, 2012. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced today that Hiroki Ito, Research & Development Department Manager of Mitsubishi Electric's Transmission & Distribution Systems Center, has been elected as the next chairman of the Study Committee A3 (SC A3: High Voltage Equipment), which is one of the 16 study committees under the Paris-based International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE). Ito, the first non-western chairman of CIGRE SCs, will assume office in August 2012.

 The SC A3 is responsible for the theory, design, and application of high voltage equipment for both AC and DC electrical power transmission and distribution systems, including all electrical devices for circuit breakers, load switches, disconnect switches, earthing switches, fault current limiters, surge arresters, instrument transformers, bushings and others. The SC A3 promotes the advancement of high voltage equipment technology that can contribute further to reliability, efficiency and environmental compatibility of high voltage equipment used in power systems through information exchanges based on the filed experience among international delegates. It will continuously conduct various surveys on promising new technologies related to high voltage equipment and facilitate international standardization, corresponding to recent technological trends such as an introduction of microgrid (smart grid), supergrid (mixed high-voltage DC transmission and ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission) and renewable energy resources (wind power and photovoltaic power generations).

 "It is a great honor to be appointed the next chairman of CIGRE Study Committee A3," Hiroki Ito said. "I am looking forward to contributing to meaningful advancements in high voltage equipment technology."

 After joining Mitsubishi Electric in April 1984, Ito has been involved in the design, development and evaluation of DC/AC switchgears and transmission and distribution technologies.