Tasman Scott started in the NZED after graduating with a BE from Canterbury Engineering school in 1970.

He did a Masters researching earthing hazards around transmission towers. This was the start of life long involvement in the subject of power systems earthing - from field measurements and interpretation of ground resistivity to heavy current and high voltage injection testing of earth grids at major substation sites.

His long and successful career in the electricity industry included spells at NZED, Central Canterbury EPB, Christchurch MED, Southpower, GM Network Development at Orion and WEL Networks and he is now a consultant at Mitton Electronet. 

Tas is also a Trustee on the Power Engineering Excellence Trust at the University of Canterbury, a company director and has contributed to a number of Industry advisory panels including The Electricity Commission’s Transmission Advisory Group and the Green Grid Research project.

Tas has been a great servant of the EEA and the electricity supply industry. He joined the EEA in 1986 and has been on the Board for almost 30 years and was its President from 1993-97, including doing much of the ground work to firmly establish EEA as a standalone pan industry entity back in 1998.
 
This Award also recognises his engineering and technical contribution to the work of industry engineering/technical standards. He is an innovator, early adopter, a couple of brief examples; He chaired the EEA working group on the Power system earthing Guide using a risk based approach; introduced ground fault neutralisers to NZ.

He has been a great support, with guidance and governance as Board member, and President when we published the first Industry wide set of Safety Rules known as SM –EI, a significant step forward in industry safety.

We have all benefited from his broad experience, including engineering design, earthquake resilience, operations and in delivering technical innovations.

I have a passion for the power industry despite the frustrations of constant regulatory fiddling I believe in good standards and doing the job properly. I don’t take myself too seriously but I like to think I have advanced the technical side and the development of best engineering practice in our industry from safety rules, security standards, earthing testing and design and lately power quality. I am fascinated by the current smart grid possibilities for better network management and customer service. I may never retire!