Sunkara B. R. Rao graduated with an electrical and electronic engineering degree from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), Hyderabad, and joined POWERGRID in 1996 as an executive trainee. Initially, he was involved in the implementation of supervisory data control and acquisition, energy management system, distribution management system and communication systems in unified load dispatch and communication projects. Rao, who now serves as a general manager, moved to POWERGRID's research and development department in 2007, contributing to the design and development of a 1200-kV national test station working with transmission system equipment manufacturers. This resulted in the development of 1200-kV ultra high-voltage (UHV) ac technology in India. He is a working group member of IEC Technical Committee 122 for UHV ac transmission systems and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) ETD 48, which is the mirror committee of IEC TC 122. He also is a member of BIS ETD 34 for instrument transformers.