Kiyoji Morii
- Birthdate
- 1926/03/31
- Birthplace
- Kyoto, Japan
- Associated organizations
- Kansai Electric Power Company
- Fields of study
- Power
- Awards
- IEEE Medal for Engineering Excellence
Biography
Kiyoji Morii's ability to recognize, cultivate, and implement new techniques has made him a world-renowned leader in power system stability.
Long before many others thought to do the same, Mr. Morii advocated, helped develop, and led the implementation of gas-insulated switch-gears (GIS) to protect the Kansai Electric Power Company from service interruptions. With Mr. Morii's bold engineering theory and managerial direction, Kansai has come to be recognized as one of the world's most reliable power systems, despite coping with natural challenges that include typhoons, earthquakes and salt pollution. In 1995, an earthquake caused a great deal of damage to electrical systems in the area, but Kansai's 95 GIS substations sustained no real harm.
Mr. Morii has made a number of notable contributions to electrical engineering. He proposed the M-coefficient, a standard tool used in evaluating new ideas in power engineering, which is named in honor of him. A strong believer in sharing technology, he and the group he managed published more than 40 papers. He has also championed inventive substation designs that minimize fire risk, noise pollution, and environmental impact.
Kiyoji Morii was born in Kyoto, Japan, on 31 March 1926. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Kyoto University in 1949, then immediately joined Kansai. He was promoted ten times to become President in 1985, then Vice Chairman in 1991. Since 1995, he has been a Senior Adviser to the company. His commitment to preventing blackouts began in 1965 when, as a senior engineer, he led the recovery from a major outage.
He has chaired the Japan Electric Association, a committee of the Electric Technology Research Association, the Institute of Electric Engineers of Kansai, and the Japan Australia Society of Kansai. He is a member of CIGRE SC-23, the Industrial Technology Council of Japan, and the Council for Science and Technology of Japan.
Mr. Morii was awarded the Medal of Electric Power from the Institute of Electric Engineers of Japan in 1975, and was named Honorary Officer in the Order of Australia in 1995.
Kiyoje Morii received the IEEE Medal for Engineering Excellence in 1999.
