Kurt Kaltenegger

Kaltenegger holds two graduate degrees in solid state physics, a MSc from Karl-Franzens University Graz and a PhD from Montanistic University Leoben, and is the holder of more than 30 patents. Prior to joining ATV, he spent three years as Director of the ABB Corporate Research Center (CRC) in China. He was based in Beijing and Shanghai and was involved in future technology research and development, specifically around insulation coordination in harsh environments, fault current limitation, bulk power transmission (HVDC), UHV, rural electrification, distributed generation and robotics. From 2000 till 2007 he was Global ABB Technology Manager for Medium Voltage products development with responsibility for 14 Development Centers worldwide. For the nine years prior, he was responsible for high voltage circuit breaker R&D at ABB headquarters in Switzerland and led projects for basic high voltage CB development and high voltage insulation and contact material development. He invented a new self-blast circuit breaker technology enabling SF6 Technology for ratings of 160 kA and higher, a world first. He was also head of the ABB Power Test Lab. Kaltenegger is a member of the CIGRE Study Committee C6, Distributed Generation and received the CIGRE Technical Committee Award in 2007. In 2008, he was appointed to the industrial advisory board of Suzhou University.