It is more than 18 years since the passing of one of the most important contributors to the development and application of composite insulator technology – Dr. Claude de Tourreil.

Every new technology needs a champion such as Claude – someone whose professional credentials combined with a dedication to the facts gives users the confidence to consider applying it. In the case of composite insulators, it is fair to say that power supply utilities the world over owe him a great debt.

Claude first became interested in composite insulators while on staff at the research laboratories of Hydro-Québec during the 1980s. This was a time when composite insulator technology was just starting to be applied on transmission projects in the U.S. and Europe. Still, there were numerous obstacles. The power supply industry is conservative and there was much to learn about how to correctly specify, handle and test them.

Thanks to his extensive research and numerous papers as well as his tireless efforts not only within CIGRE but also as Columnist for INMR, engineers the world over gradually began to learn the salient details of this new technology.

Claude was a Presenter at INMR WORLD CONGRESS events, beginning in Miami in 1997 and at each session thereafter – up until Hong Kong in November 2005, just months before his passing in March 2006 from acute leukemia. Claude’s unemotional and scientifically based arguments helped convince engineers at power supply utilities the world over to pay serious attention to how and where this technology could best be applied on their networks.

That’s why, in 2009, INMR instituted an annual award to honour his memory and to keep his name and contributions alive in the minds of the next generation of power industry professionals.

Award recipients over the years have come from across the globe and included luminaries such as LIANG Xidong of Tsinghua University (2009), Wallace Vosloo of Eskom (2010), Ravi S. Gorur of Arizona State University (2011), Igor Gutman of STRI (2012), Frank Schmuck of Pfisterer (2013), Tony Carreira of K-Line Insulators (2014), T&D consultant Alberto Pigini (2015) Vaclav Sklenicka of EGU HV Laboratory (2016), T&D Consultant William Chisholm (2017), Jean-Marie George of Sediver (2018), Andrew Phillips of EPRI (2019), T&D Consultant Raouf Znaidi (2020), Dan Windmar of STRI (2021), Jens Seifert of MR (2022) and Masoud Farzaneh, retired from UQAC (2023).

I am pleased to announce that INMR has chosen Roy Macey, Managing Member of Mace Technologies in South Africa as recipient of the 2024 Claude de Tourreil Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Field of Electrical Insulators.

In 1978, Roy joined Electrical Line Components – a company specializing in the supply of insulators, hardware, equipment and instrumentation for use on overhead lines – as Technical Consultant. This company became part of the Cullinan Holdings Group where he was appointed Technical Executive and later Chief Executive, Cullinan Electrical Technologies. Apart from providing technical support to the Marketing Div. and their clients, he was responsible for design of all porcelain insulators produced in South Africa. In 1990, he founded Mace Electrical Technologies, which focuses on overhead line design services and inspections, and undertakes insulator coating as well as upgrading projects. They are also suppliers of insulators, components and condition monitoring instruments for T&D systems.

A Fellow of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers and a Life Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (USA), his paper The Performance of High Voltage Outdoor Insulation in Contaminated Environments, presented to the SAIEE in 1981, received a South African Transport Services Award. Roy has delivered numerous papers across the globe and presented courses on high voltage insulation in South Africa, Namibia, New Zealand, Australia, Norway and the United States. He is co-author of the book The Practical Guide to Outdoor High Voltage Insulators.

In 1987, Roy won the Telemecanique Electrical Design Award and the Design Institute/Shell Design Award for his 22 kV overhead line insulation system. He has served on several SABS Standards Committees, National Energy Council Steering Groups, High Voltage Co-ordinating Committee Working Groups, as Chairman of the National IEC TC36 Mirror Committee and both the Executive and Technical Boards of the National Committee of CIGRE. In 1996, he was elected as South Africa’s representative on CIGRE Study Committee 22 (now B2), “Overhead Lines” and, in 2000, was awarded the title of “Distinguished Member” by the Administrative Council of CIGRE in Paris.

Claude would no doubt have been extremely pleased to know that someone with Roy’s decades of service and dedication to the insulator field has been selected recipient of the award in his memory.

Roy will be presented the award at the 2025 INMR WORLD CONGRESS in October next year in Panama City (www.inmrworldcongress.com) where he will be among 120 speakers giving 140 technical presentations.

I’m sure engineers across the globe join me in extending to Roy congratulations and sincere appreciation for his years of contributions to the world’s power delivery industry.

Marvin L. Zimmerman
Publisher, INMR
mzimmerman@inmr.com