Les Brand (FIEAust, CPEng, RPEQ) is an experienced electrical engineer with over 30 years of experience in the transmission and distribution industry in Australia, Asia and the USA. He has held senior and executive roles within the power transmission and distribution sectors, including utilities, consultancies and private companies.
Les has held senior technical roles for a number of HVDC interconnection projects including Directlink (Australia), Murraylink (Australia), Basslink (Australia) and Trans Bay Cable (California, USA).
Les has led the HVDC elements of key projects, including AAPL (Australia-Singapore), Ceres Wind Farm (Australia), Lower Churchill Project (Canada) and upgrades on Directlink and Murraylink (Australia) as well as various AC vs HVDC and HVDC framing/scoping studies for proposed projects in Australia and the UK. On the HVDC cable side, Les was responsible for the monitoring, approval and independent third-party sign off during the Basslink cable manufacture, installation and testing.
He also held the role of Submarine Cable Manager for Trans Bay Cable (USA) and lead the technical development activities, including drafting the technical specification, for the submarine and land HVDC cables for the proposed Ceres 600MW HVDC link in South Australia.
In 2020 and 2021, Les was the Special Reporter for CIGRE SC B4 HVDC and FACTS and in 2021 was awarded the CIGRE Pioneer 2020 e-session Achievement Award for SC B4.
Les is the recipient of the National Professional Electrical Engineer of the Year award with Engineers Australia for 2020.
