The 2022 Session, back to face-to-face

After the 2021 Virtual Centennial Session, CIGRE Central Office completed a survey of delegates from the 2018 Session and the 2020 e-session, to understand why they had not attended the VCS last year.

The main reason mentioned by the respondents was “I prefer face-to-face events “, with a score of 49% leaving far behind any other reason.

Looking back to the 2014, 2016 and 2018 Sessions, the delegates’ survey showed that the benefits they perceived were:

1. Networking with large community of engineers, scientists, educators and industry leaders (69% very good and 30% good);
2. The access to hundreds of advanced technical presentations, panel discussions and poster sessions (57% very good and 39% good);
3. Exposure to new technologies and best practises presented by several hundred exhibitors booths (47% very good and 47% good).

Based on this feedback, CIGRE has decided to hold the 2022 Session at the Palais des Congrès of Paris, in a face-to-face format, from Sunday, August 28 to Friday, September 2.

A record number of papers

The National Committees submitted more than 1,000 synopses of which more than 950 were selected by the Study Committees to be part of the Session papers. The technical programme with the complete list is available on CIGRE website, and the general programme will be on the session website in mid-February.

The Session will begin with the opening ceremony on Sunday August 28, 4:00 p.m. in the Grand Amphitheatre, including:

• The welcome address by CIGRE President, Michel AUGONNET;
• The keynote speech of Dr Arshad MANSOOR, CEO of the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI), who will talk about “Resilient Decarbonisation”;
• The 2022 CIGRE Award ceremony.

The opening panel on Monday morning, August 29, will be about the “Energy transition - featuring equipment, technology, systems and market coupling “, with an introduction by Marcio Szechtman, Director Transmission Eletrobras (Brazil), and Chair of CIGRE Technical Council. The detailed program of the panel is being finalised. It will involve a keynote speaker and panellists who will discuss the energy transition as seen by the major power equipment providers, the changes in the planning and design of transmission and distribution systems, and some scenarios of sector coupling.

Study Committees have organised workshops focused on very specific topics, and experts from different parts of the world, will present their most recent experiences and studies. The seven workshops that have been selected for this Session are about:

• Large power system and market disturbances (Monday August 29, afternoon)
• Extra-long transnational transmission lines (Monday August 29, afternoon)
• Oscillatory instabilities and interactions in inverter based resource (IBR) dominated power systems (Tuesday August 30, afternoon)
• Standardization of cybersecurity in power utilities digital infrastructures – a joint vision from IEC, IEEE and CIGRE (Tuesday August 30, morning)
• SF6 alternatives for transmission and distribution substations and their switchgear (Wednesday, August 31, morning)
• Blockchain in power systems (joint with IEEE on Wednesday August 31, afternoon)
• Knowledge transfer of substation engineering and experiences (September 2, morning)

The Group discussion meetings (GDM) will be the main components of the Session, with four daily conferences run in parallel from Tuesday, August 30, to Friday, September 2, during the whole day.

The contributions prepared by the delegates who wish to answer the questions of the Special Reporters during the GDMs, will be collected through the registration platform, as in 2021.

The sixteen Study Committees have selected tutorials delivered by Working Group members, from Monday, August 29, to Thursday, September 1: two in the morning, and two in the afternoon.

The topics selected for this Session will be related to:

• Synchronous condensers for power systems with low or zero inertia generators
• Life extension of oil-filled static machines
• Field experience with vacuum switching devices
• A new era for submarine cables
• Coatings for power network equipment
• Asset health indices for equipment in existing substations
• DC grid benchmark models for systems studies
• Constrains and implementation of wide area protection 
• Global grids
• TSO-DSO cooperation - Control centre tools requirements
• Interactions between wildlife and electrical infrastructures
• Evaluation of temporary overvoltages in power systems due to low order harmonic resonances
• Carbon pricing in wholesale electricity markets
• Electric vehicles as distributed energy resource systems
• Electric performance of new non-SF₆ gases and gas mixtures for gas-insulated systems
• Artificial intelligence application and technology in power systems

The poster sessions will have a dedicated space for authors to present to the interested delegates their papers in a poster format from Monday, August 29, to Thursday, September 1. Each of the 950+ final papers will have a space and a time slot for the purpose.

Specific forums will be organised by the Next Generation Network (NGN) and Women I Energy (WiE) groups during mid-day breaks on Wednesday and Thursday.

The technical exhibition is an important part of the Session for CIGRE that was first implemented in 1994, and has become a unique opportunity for manufacturers, service providers, consultants, and operators, to meet their customers and prospects in a single place during one week.

This Session will break a new record in terms of number of exhibitors, in spite of the many changes that have occurred since the last edition in 2018 for many of them, through company mergers and acquisitions.

Registrations will open on February 15, available from the Session website that will provide detailed and updated information about the general programme.

The comfort and safety of the delegates is the priority of CIGRE Central Office, so we will update the information on:

• The general situation in France and Paris regarding the pandemic,
• The sanitary conditions to travel to and from France,
• How to access the Session venue (Palais des Congrès de Paris, as Porte Maillot is still under construction),
• The conditions to access hotels, restaurants, cultural venues, and shops.

We are also considering that some delegates may not be able to come to Paris, so all the events of the Session from Sunday to Friday, the opening ceremony and panel, the workshops, the Group Discussion meetings, the tutorials and the forums, will be filmed and recorded for broadcast in live and replay.

For remote delegates, interactions with the organising teams of the various events (Study Committees) will be possible via the Q&A and chat box of the broadcasting platform, but the presentation of prepared contributions and posters will be available for delegates attending in person only.

Today, for fully vaccinated persons, the sanitary measures in Paris allow to attend any large indoors event with no more restrictions, to go to restaurants and cultural venues, so we are very confident that Paris will welcome a very large number of Session delegates who want to reconnect with their colleagues and friends in a safe and secure environment.

I sincerely look forward to meeting you in Paris in August.
In the meantime, take care to stay healthy.

Philippe ADAM, Secretary General