Jean-Jacques Archambault (March 21, 1919 – December 23, 2001) was a Quebec engineer. He worked at Hydro-Québec and is known for his work on the 735kV electric transmission technology in the early 1960s.
Shortly after being hired as a planner at Hydro-Québec he showed interest in the possibility of 735 kV transmission. With the highest operational voltage elsewhere being 525 kV[1][2] many American specialists affirmed that a 735-kV line was impossible to develop, but the Commission hydroélectrique de Québec approved his idea and launched a project to install a transmission line between Montreal and the Manicouagan-Outardes complex.[3] The 735-kV technology was put in service on 29 November 1965,[1] and described as the technological innovation of the 20th century for Quebec by the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec.[1]
The Eastern Canada Council of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers gives out the Jean-Jacques Archambault Award of Merit in his honour, An amphitheatre in the Hydro-Québec Building in Montreal is also named for him.
In 2005, Hydro-Québec received an IEEE Milestone award for the technology.[4]