Polaris 2024 Technical Advisory Committee
Our Technical Advisory Committee has a vast wealth of industry knowledge and has worked hard to develop an exciting and innovative programme, which brings together a wide range of international industry experts and leading decision makers.
Ian Hunter
Polaris Diagnostics & Engineering Ltd
Ian has more than 30 years’ experience in the electricity industry. During his 21 years with Scottish Power he gained extensive experience in both transmission and distribution engineering. His focus during his first 10 years was on distribution, up to 33kV, in the fields of construction, system design and field operations – where he was a senior authorised person. He then went on to become a transformer specialist and senior transmission design engineer, responsible for the company’s transformer assets, up to 400kV. Ian also took the technical lead in transformer related R&D, condition assessments, faults and defect investigations.
Since founding Polaris Diagnostics & Engineering Ltd in 2011, Ian (as Technical Director) specialises in all aspects of transformer life cycle and fleet management and has represented various clients as an expert witness in transformer related disputes. He has 19 publications which have been presented to national and international conferences and technical journals. He is a UK representative on CIGRE WG A2.58 “Installation & Pre Commissioning of Transformers & Reactors”.
Ian holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering and a master’s degree in electrical power engineering, both from the University of Strathclyde. He is currently carrying out research into transformer bushings which will lead to a PhD. He is a chartered engineer (CEng), a fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (FIET), a senior member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (SMIEEE), an associate member of the Institution of Fire Engineers (AIFireE) and an affiliate of the Chartered Society of Forensic Science.
Tom Breckinridge
TB TCS Ltd
With over 40 years’ experience in power engineering, Tom is a Consultant operating through TB TCS Ltd. He provides specialist technical support on a global basis in all areas of power transformer ownership and operation including specification, procurement support, design reviews, manufacturing inspections, witness testing, condition assessment and failure investigation.
Tom is active in the standards arena as a member of BSI PEL/14 committee for Power Transformers. He is a member of a number of IEC maintenance teams currently developing and updating international standards in the power transformer field. Tom is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Cigre “Green Book” on transformer procurement.
Prior to founding TB TCS Ltd in 2006, Tom was the senior transformer specialist for SP Energy Networks covering all aspects of transformers within the business. His primary responsibility was for specification and technical approval of transformer contracts from 420kV down to 240 volts.
Tom has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Glasgow and a Master of Business Administration Degree from Strathclyde Graduate Business School. He is a registered European Engineer, a Fellow of the IET and a Chartered Engineer.
Elaine McCulloch
EDF
Elaine is an Electrical Engineer with 34 years of experience working in the nuclear generation industry (Scottish Nuclear, British Energy, and EDF Energy UK).
Elaine works in the Operational Systems Group, Electrical Branch within Nuclear Services, providing Electrical Engineering support to the existing fleet of eight Nuclear Power stations in the UK, also Hinkley Point C under construction, Sizewell C in planning and any other future nuclear power development in the UK.
Within EDF, she holds the role Qualified Experienced Personnel (SQEP) in Transformers. The EDF fleet of transformers range from 415V to 400kV. (1MVA to 800MVA). Nuclear and Industrial safety is paramount in all our operations and in the event of failure, it is important that the root cause is established and mitigation measures put in place to prevent reoccurrence across EDF UK Fleet. Elaine has been involved in many forensic examinations on transformers, main tanks, tap changers and bushings.
Elaine is responsible for the extensive fleet of online monitoring systems on all key transformers within the EDF Energy UK fleet and assessing asset health and operational surveillance. Over the years she developed a new bespoke Transformer predictive health program which captures the transformer data from the laboratory (offline) and online analysers.
Martin Judd
High-Frequency Diagnostics and Engineering
Dr Martin Judd is Technical Director of High Frequency Diagnostics and Engineering (HFDE), a Scottish company that provides partial discharge (PD) technology and diagnostic services for all types of HV equipment and substations. His role involves working on-site with HV asset owners, applying advanced techniques for detecting, diagnosing and monitoring PD in equipment such as switchgear, GIS, transformers, bushings and insulators in open terminal substations. He also designs and tests a variety of PD sensors at HFDE’s R&D facility located in Glasgow.
Prior to founding HFDE in 2014, Martin was Professor of HV Technologies at the University of Strathclyde, where he managed the HV Laboratory and pioneered many aspects of the ultra-high frequency (UHF) technique for PD detection. He has authored more than 250 scientific papers on PD and associated topics and Chaired the UK Universities High Voltage Network Steering Committee from 2012 to 2015. Dr Judd is a member of the IEEE DEIS Diagnostics Technical Committee and of CIGRE UK.
Calum Jardine
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks Distribution
Calum Jardine is the Operational Technology Standards Manager for Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks Distribution (SSEN-D), one of the UK’s distribution network operators responsible for electricity supplies to 3.7 million homes in the North of Scotland and central Southern England. Calum leads a team of engineers responsible for all technical authority matters – engineering policy & standards, equipment assessment, standard design, and configuration – relating to all control and monitoring systems within substations.
Calum’s specialism is protection & control engineering, and he leads SSEN-Ds to work on implementing fully digital substations as well as other projects to convert proven innovation and development projects into scalable business-as-usual systems. Before his current role, Calum was a field protection & commissioning engineer responsible for the end-to-end design, configuration, commissioning, and support of distribution and transmission substations in the North of Scotland. He is a senior authorised person and continues to provide out-of-hours operational support alongside his policy role.
Calum holds a master’s degree in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde. He sits as SSEN’s representative on the ENA Protection Assessment Panel and has sat on various industry-level work groups including the latest revision to ENA ER G100. He is a member of the newly created CIGRE WG B5.83 “Protection for Modern Distribution Networks”.
Gordon Burrows
Northern Powergrid
Gordon Burrows is the Control Operations Manager for Northern Powergrid’s Yorkshire license area based in the Leeds Control Centre. Gordon leads a team who are responsible for the 24/7 operation of the electrical power network from 11kV up to 132kV including the National Grid interface. Prior to this role, he was the Regional Manager for Teesside.
He has 20 years of experience in the power industry, having started his career with SP Energy Networks as a graduate trainee before becoming a Senior Authorised Engineer. He then progressed into management roles as Head of Delivery and latterly Head of Planning and Design within the Edinburgh and Borders District.
He holds an Batchelor of Engineering with Honours degree from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh and is a Chartered Engineer in the membership of The Institution of Engineering and Technology. In May 2023, we was selected to attend Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s Leadership Development programme in Omaha, USA and is presently studying for an MSc in Strategic Leadership at Newcastle University Business School.
Gordon has served as a member of the Industrial Advisory Board at Heriot-Watt University, a member of the IET’s Disciplinary Board and between 2020 and 2022 was Chair of IET Scotland.
