FISE-IEEE/CIGRE Conference 2019 – Living the new era of energy

Medellin, Colombia
3-6 December 2019

In the frame of this fair, it is customary to have an important academic event, therefore, IEEE-PES Colombia and the National Committee of CIGRE Colombia teamed up to organize this year’s event entitled FISE-IEEE/CIGRE CONFERENCE “Living the new era of energy”. (FISE is the acronym in Spanish for International Fair of Electrical Field.)

For four days (from December 3- 6, 2019) different academic activities took place including tutorials, conferences in the form of master classes, and paper presentations. The member companies of CIGRE Colombia, which are the main drivers of the National Committee, taught four tutorial courses on the first day:

1. Introduction to energy markets. Organized by XM: Transmission System Operator and electrical market administrator in Colombia.
2. Distributed energy resources. Organized by Interconexiones Eléctricas S.A (ISA): One of the biggest Latin American business groups.
3. Tendencies in design and development of substations. Organized by HMV: Engineering consulting company with presence in the whole American continent.
4. Integral handling of corrosion in the life cycle of energy transport equipment’s. Organized by INTERCOLOMBIA, Colombia’s largest electrical infrastructure owner.

From December 4-6, different conferences, as master classes, took place for more than 230 associates who also had the opportunity to listen to 70 paper presentations directly from their authors.

The call for papers was oriented to six main topics:

• Electrical infrastructure
• Information and analysis
• Operation
• Politics, regulation and markets
• Performance
• Sustainability

A total of 111 papers from 15 countries were submitted and evaluated by a committee made by IEEE and CIGRE members.

Both the conferences and the paper presentations had a common orientation towards electrical system sustainability, but, more importantly, sustainability of the planet with a determined battle against the negative environmental impacts caused by the industry in the past.

During the FISE-IEEE/CIGRE CONFERENCE 2019 “Living the new era of energy” we heard different points of views about the aforementioned topics from speakers and panelists, with the focus on sustainability. Some spoke about it directly, like substituting cleaner energy sources or the utilization of less harmful materials in the building of the electrical infrastructure. We also heard about indirect aspects such as improving operational efficiency and process optimization.

These discussions will lead to improved sustainability, along with other important matters addressed in the FISE-IEEE/CIGRE CONFERENCE 2019 including the implementation of public politicies currently being designed  and their impact, which will involve government actions in such important issues. Also discussed were the technological advances causing changes in the way the electrical systems are conceived, like energy storage, which was unthinkable few years ago. Likewise, the huge impact caused by the electrical industry’s digital transformation offering better decision and planning tools, better information quality, and the opportunity to have improved protection and control systems which will also improve operators’ situational awareness.

Four conferences were held with unconventional panel format permitting associates to appreciate the speakers’ varied opinions:

• The first had as a central conversation axis on cross border and international interconnections as support to electrical transition.
• The second hosted high-level executives from the most important companies represent at the fair to express their ideas and opinions about how their companies foster change to enable a new electrical world.
• The third panel was dedicated to a macro project being developed in Colombia, called Energetica 2030, which gathers 22 national and international institutions and is divided into  10 sub-projects. The goal of this macro project is to formulate proposals about the electrical industry in 2030.
• The fourth panel, which gave closure to this academic event, reunited four entrepreneur women in the Colombian electrical industry who shared their appreciations about the aforementioned changes.

Lastly, the Colombian National Committee of CIGRE would like to express its deepest and sincerest thanks to the General Secretary of CIGRE, Philippe Adam, for his unconditional support to this event and for his active participation during the conferences, panels, and the event itself.