Statkraft employee presented with this year’s Electric Power Award

This year, the Electric Power Award was presented to Chief Engineer Johan L. Amundsen of PGTE, for his knowledge of turbines and his contribution to CIGRÉ.
Johan L. Amundsen has been presented with the 2009 Electric Power Award by the Norwegian National Committee of CIGRÉ for his work with, and knowledge of, turbines. The award is highly recognized among hydropower experts. “This is an important acknowledgment and a great honor,” Amundsen says.
CIGRÉ is a world-wide professional association for large electric systems, which was founded in 1921 and is based in Paris, France.
The Electric Power Award was introduced in 1990 and is awarded annually to a person who has excelled in work of a high professional quality, both theoretically and applied, within the area of generation and transmission of electric energy.
This year, the award was presented to Chief Engineer Johan L. Amundsen of PGTE, for his knowledge of turbines and his contribution to CIGRÉ. The award ceremony will take place May 27, at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
“I am very grateful for this recognition,” says Amundsen, who has worked with turbines in Statkraft since 1993. He specifically points to his work on the Svartisen breakdown in 2006 as one of the grounds for receiving the award.
“The Svartisen unit was shut down for a long time while repairs and replacements were carried out following the breakdown, which was caused by a unique electromagnetic phenomenon which caused major damage. My work was to find the causes for this and to ensure that measures were implemented to prevent a repeat of the incident,” Amundsen says.
In addition to his technical expertise and daily work in Statkraft, Amundsen has contributed to the annual meetings in CIGRÉ and various tasks in between.
“My work for CIGRÉ includes looking at specific international issues which often become part of guidelines or recommendations, perhaps also requests to update norms,” Amundsen says. This also benefits Norwegian energy companies. And his experience and knowledge have been of great use in this work.
This is the second time a Statkraft employee has been presented with the Electric Power Award. Former Statkraft employee, Terje Gjengedal, was presented with the award in 2005.
Source: Statkraft