CNR-CME pays tribute to the 100th anniversary of the birth of CĂLIN MIHĂILEANU

On March 5, 2023, it will be 100 years since the birth of a great personality of Romanian energy, CĂLIN MIHĂILEANU, who dedicated his entire activity to the development of the energy sector in Romania and strongly influenced the Romanian world of engineering and research in this field.

Călin Mihăileanu, an exceptional personality of the Romanian electroenergetics and born diplomat, contributed essentially to the prestige enjoyed by the Romanian energy community. An elite professional, he has always found the most appropriate way to make Romania an active and respected presence in the world energy concert.

He was born on March 5, 1923 in Arad and left us on November 14, 2006, in Bucharest. Life gave him both good and less good, but always trials strengthened him, hardened him and gave him the strength to go on, proving that value, fairness and professional ethics can be the best “weapons” for to overcome all challenges. He was that leader that the energy community needed so much: as an attitude and vision, a way to lead and live his life, to behave and communicate, to form other elites in turn.

Throughout his career, he participated and was actively involved in multiple technical and scientific events in Romania and abroad, as a director in the Ministry of Energy or at ICEMENERG, general secretary and vice-president of CNR-CME, president and vice-president of CNR-CIGRE, UN international expert. His outstanding contribution has always been appreciated at the highest level.

Călin Mihăileanu’s charismatic personality left a strong mark on the entities in which he was active and had different functions, and his professional knowledge and experience were beneficial to the technical and scientific world of the time. For over 40 years, he led one of the important energy sectors and always took difficult decisions with great calmness, maturity and efficiency during the darkest periods of Romanian energy during the years of communism, when the imbalance between technical and political decisions was all more pronounced. He had that very special kind of diplomacy, elegance and subtlety and that innate charm and unique demeanor that endeared him to all his associates and friends.

With total discretion and with the decency of a true senior, as was manifested throughout his life, Călin Mihăileanu left us on the night of November 14, 2006

A large part of Călin Mihăileanu’s professional activity was related to the life of the Romanian National Committee of the World Energy Council, which he led and to whose development and consolidation he contributed for 23 years, as general secretary (1971- 1990) and Vice President (1990-1994). In 1994, he retired from the ranks of the active members of the CNR-CME Association of his own free will and was conferred the status of Honorary Member of the Association.

Călin Mihăileanu also had an active presence at all the National Energy Conferences (CNE), with international participation, organized under the aegis of CNR-CME and RENEL in the period 1992-1998 and at the editions of the Regional Energy Forum (FOREN), organized by CNR-CME in the period 2000-2004. He contributed papers to the important events of the National Energy Conference and FOREN, as well as to their technical sessions, took important positions on the most important issues of the energy sector in our country and, through his presence and valuable contribution, brought an undeniable added value to these conferences.

For his entire professional activity, Călin Mihăileanu established himself as one of the great specialists of the time in the energy field and a fundamental landmark in the evolution of the National Energy System.
We would like that on the Centenary of his anniversary, the prominent personality of Călin Mihăileanu can have the power to transcend time and remain in the memory of his younger and older confreres. In this sense, CNR-CME will initiate a series of activities in memory of the late Călin Mihăileanu.
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Călin Mihăileanu was born on March 5, 1923, in Arad. A graduate of the Polytechnic School of Bucharest, Faculty of Electromechanics, class of 1945, Călin Mihăileanu began his work in the same year at the Concordia Society, the Electric Department of Câmpina, then continued at the General Gas and Electricity Society of Bucharest until 1953, with a short period at the Electric Networks Company – IRE Bacău. Between 1953-1960 he was an engineer, chief engineer and director at the Ministry of Electric Energy, after which, until 1964, he worked at IRME – the Energy Rationalization and Modernization Enterprise -, where he was in turn a researcher, chief engineer and director. In 1964, he returned to the Ministry of Energy as general director and director of the Technical Directorate, so that in 1967 he went back to research at ICENERG (Institute for Electrical and Heating Research), which later became ICEMENERG (Institute for Energy Research and Modernization), where he held the positions of scientific researcher.

Călin Mihăileanu also had a teaching career, being an associate professor at the Polytechnic Institute in Bucharest. He wrote more than 350 articles published in the country and abroad, numerous scientific communications at national and international congresses and conferences, as well as three books: “Energy in the next three decades” (1979), “Voltage gaps in electrical power systems – effects on consumers” (1979), “Constantin I Budeanu” (1987, together with I.S. Antoniu). He was co-author of the volume “Electrification in Romania 1950-1992” (1996), he translated and published in Romanian, together with Eugeniu Pavel, the “Dictionary of terms used in the field of energy”, produced by the World Energy Council. For 17 years he was deputy editor-in-chief and for seven years editor-in-chief of “Energetica” magazine. He received the “Traian Vuia” Prize awarded by the Romanian Academy in 1979 and the 1st class Order of Merit, awarded in 1974 by the Bucharest State Council.

The Association Romanian National Committee of the World Energy Council (CNR-CME) includes the largest national network of specialists in the field of energy and is the main organization in the field of energy in Romania, a founding member of the World Energy Council, since 1924. CNR-CME is a professional, apolitical, non-governmental, non-profit or patrimonial organization, CNR-CME concentrates the interests of various Romanian institutions and organizations interested in the issues of energy and its relationship with the economy and the environment, of specialists and civil society.