Andre Canelhas
Managing Director
Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1956. He received his Electrical Engineering degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in 1979. He had an early contact with large electrical power systems through a trainee program made at Furnas – one of the largest local power Utilities. After graduation he joined ABB, participating in the HVDC system design for Itaipu. Within the Itaipu project, he was also responsible for system tests and commissioning. In 1984 he transferred to ABB Headquarters in Sweden, becoming manager of system design as well as control and protection departments. In 1992 he has been appointed project manager, for the USD 100 million Kontek HVDC cable Interconnection, between Denmark and Germany. For his performance in this job he was awarded the Project Manager of the Year – 1995, by the Swedish Project Academy.
In 1995 through 1997, Mr. Canelhas worked in the project team in Malaysia in consortium with the Brazilian builder CBPO, which led to the award of the USD 5 billion Bakun HEP in 1996. He acted as the overall project manager technically responsible for Bakun Project within the ABB-CBPO Consortium. In 1997 he took the role of General Manager for ABB T&D Power Systems Division in Brazil, responsible for delivery of turnkey transmission projects in Latin America within ABB. In 2001 he joined VA TECH T&D to lead the Project’s Division business which experienced a fast growth including Brazil and South America. Shortly after the integration of VA TECH by Siemens, he joined Alstom Grid in 2005, as Managing Director for the Power Electronics unit in the UK. Later he became responsible for the worldwide HVDC -FACTS business with business units in UK, Germany, Finland, US, Brazil, India and China. During this period he grew the business both organically as well as by acquisitions.
In 2010 he joined Siemens Wind Power in the UK and managed project delivery teams with a large portfolio of projects in the backlog both onshore and offshore in the UK.
Currently Mr. Canelhas acts professionally in HVDC Technologies Ltd and HVDC Solutions LLP, companies in the UK dedicated to innovative Power Electronics designs and as Senior Consultant to implement HVDC – FACTS projects around the world.
Mr. Canelhas has patented work, actively participates in CIGRE and IEEE and is author of technical papers on advanced electrical power systems.
Michelle Gomes
Marketing Director
Michelle graduated in Bachelor of Communications, completed a Post-Graduate course in Business Administration, attended a range of Seminars from Internal Communications to Public Relations and obtained a Professional Diploma in Marketing from the CIM – Chartered Institute of Marketing, which she is also a member.
For the past 10 years she has worked in Marketing, Corporate and Internal Communications for small to multinational blue chip companies with fast paced multicultural environment in the field of engineering, automation, power transmission & distribution of energy and bespoke automated systems. This experience gave her the opportunity to work with people in all levels in different countries and a variety of communications projects where one of the biggest challenges was to communicate effectively with all stakeholders.
She is delighted with the opportunity to use her multicultural background and skills to assist HVDC Technologies and fellow professionals on their challenging and exciting communications projects.
Masoud Bazargan
Associate Director
Masoud Bazargan is a Power Engineer with over 25 years global experience in Power Transmission and Distribution with particular emphasis on network planning and operation, grid integration of renewable and conventional generations, as well as technology development and application including HVDC and FACTS.
Prior to joining HVDC Technologies as Associate Director, Masoud was the Managing Director of Research & Technology and later SmartGrids Advanced Research and Network Consulting activities in ALSTOM Grid. He was heading a multi-disciplinary team of engineers and scientists working on a wide range of research and enabling technologies in the field of Power Electronics and Power System planning, operation & management.
In the past, he worked as a senior consultant with PTI (now part of SIEMENS), working on power system studies including load flow, short circuit, stability, contingency analysis and generation connection using PSS/E software.
Masoud has also been responsible for co-ordination of Transient Overvoltage Studies for SVC and HVDC while with GEC-ALSTOM, ALSTOM and AREVA. Other responsibilities included team and project management ensuring target budget and deadlines were met.
As a Consultant Engineer to ALSTOM Stafford, he carried out Electromagnetic transient analysis, Insulation Co-ordination, Load Flow and Transient Stability Studies of power transmission systems and HVDC & SVC projects.
Masoud is a Chartered Electrical Engineer with a range of experience gained in manufacturing, process industry, utility and consultancy environments.
He holds a guest professorship at Sichuan University in China.
Working field
Network Planning & Smartgrids, Transmission System Design management, System Impact Studies for Generation and Load Connection, Grid Code compliance, HVDC & FACTS and Automation.