Les Brand

Les Brand has 28 years of experience in the power transmission and distribution industry in Australia, Asia and North America. Les has held senior and executive roles for companies within these sectors, including transmission and distribution utilities, engineering consultancies and project developers. He has a broad background in AC transmission and distribution networks and High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) projects and applies this experience to his current role as Managing Director and Principal Consultant with Amplitude Consultants, an Asia-Pacific engineering consultancy which he co-founded in 2015 and has a focus on HVDC and FACTS systems, high voltage cables and the connection of renewable energy generation to the grid.

Les has held key roles for a number of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) projects in Australia and the U.S, including Directlink (Australia), Murraylink (Australia), Basslink (Australia) and Trans Bay Cable (California, USA) with these roles covering project management, site supervision, factory acceptance testing, commissioning management and operations management for the HVDC systems, HVDC converter stations and associated land and submarine cables.

Les actively contributes to the HVDC and power electronics industry at an international level, including active participation in CIGRE study committee B4 (DC and Power Electronics) and IEC Technical Committee 99. Les has been actively involved with CIGRE for over 18 years. He has held and holds current convenor roles for various CIGRE working groups, mostly in the B4 (DC and Power Electronics) space. He was the CIGRE SC B4 Special Reporter for the 2020 e-Session and Paris 2021, is a section leader and contributing author to the CIGRE HVDC “Green Book” on HVDC and was a recipient of a CIGRE E-Session Pioneer award in 2021 for study committee B4.