CIGRE Greece celebrates Half-Century History
The Greek National Committee of CIGRE celebrated its 50th anniversary in December 2025. The first contacts between interested engineers in Greece, active in the domain of electricity and the international body of CIGRE were established in 1960 and a Liaison Office was created carrying national CIGRE activities. The Greek National Committee (GNC) for CIGRE was formally created in 1976, when a sufficient number of members was collected. The first chairpersons were Prof. Ioannis TEGOPOULOS, Prof. Vasileios PAPADIAS, Prof. Dimitrios TSANAKAS and Mr. Armandos RIGOS, eminent figures in Electric Power Engineering at those times. In 1989 the Committee obtained the legal form of a nonprofit scientific organization, and it operates under this scheme today. Until 1989, the NC activities were fostered by the Public Power Corporation (PPC), the vertically integrated power utility in Greece at that time.
Today the GNC of CIGRE comprises the most significant technical association of electrical energy engineers in Greece providing a unique forum to implement CIGRE’s global strategic and technical plans to develop solutions to power system challenges, as applied to local conditions. Its membership encompasses all main stakeholders involved in the Greek Power domain, including industry and academia. By the end of 2025 the NC membership reached 346 equivalent members, placing it in the 9th position in Europe and 17th in the World among the CIGRE NCs worldwide. The NGC has strong and uninterrupted participation in the International CIGRE activities, i.e. Study Committees, Working Groups and Conferences. It participates actively in the Management Board (MB) and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the South-East European Regional Council of CIGRE (SEERC) and issues biannually the e-magazine Pylons, that publishes technical articles in Greek and English language dedicated to themes of local interest and is distributed freely among its members. Last but not least, CIGRE Greece has established its Next Generation Network (NGN) that in the last years has managed to attract new professionals and Electrical Engineering students (undergraduate, postgraduate Master’s, Doctoral, and Post-Doctoral students) from the Greek Universities.
This year the 50th anniversary was celebrated during the 32nd National Conference of the CIGRE Greece that was held in Athens on December 11–12, close to the Archeological site of Acropolis and The Temple of Olympian Zeus. This Conference is a biennial national meeting that has become the most prestigious event in the domain of electricity in the country, attracting speakers and a wide audience from Utilities, Industry and Universities.
The 32nd Conference has been concluded with remarkable success! It has hit an attendance record of more than 500 power system engineers from Network Operators, the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) and the Hellenic Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO), Technology Vendors, Research and Academia. Key developments, inspiring solutions and open technological questions central to the energy transition have been actively debated in 9 well organized Sessions.
Prof. Nikos HATZIARGYRIOU, Chairman of CIGRE Greece, welcomed the participants and provided an overview of the organized activities.
Hon. Prof. Konstantin PAPAILIOU, President of CIGRE, reflected on the vital role of the energy transition in shaping a sustainable future for humanity and honored outstanding personalities of the Greek National Committee who have contributed to the development of the electricity grids in the country and whom he has known over the past 50 years (Fig. 1). A particularly inspiring moment of his address was the presentation of previously unknown historical documents, showing that Greece was already represented at a CIGRE Session as early as 1948 through the late Professor of High Voltage Engineering Georgios PETROPOULOS, whose granddaughter, Mrs. Gisela Petropoulou, attended the Conference as Guest of Honour and received commemorative tokens of appreciation on behalf of the Petropoulos family.
Dr Ioannis MARGARIS, Vice-Chairman of IPTO, also welcomed the Session and assured IPTO’s strong and continuous support to CIGRE NC activities.
Dr. George GEORGANTZIS, former Chair of CIGRE Greece, provided a well-documented overview of the history of CIGRE Greece, listing its administrative councils and their key achievements, the awards and distinctions obtained by Greek members and highlighting key international events organized in Athens, like the CIGRE Technical Council Annual Meeting in November 2010, the CIGRE Steering Committee and Technical Council meetings in January 2023 and the CIGRE Symposium in April 2005.
Dr. Dimitrios MICHOS, former Chair of CIGRE Greece, spoke in memory of the late Prof. Evangelos DIALYNAS, former Chair of CIGRE Greece.
In the two-day event 36 papers were presented in the following sessions:
- System Operation and Security (4 papers) covering lessons learnt from the Iberian blackout, frequency disturbances, testing of the Attica-Crete HVDC interconnection, and studies of the new Korinthos-Kos HVDC interconnection.
- System Planning and Energy Transition (6 papers) covering generation planning considering adequacy during Dunkelflaute events, power system hourly simulation, European network codes, offshore wind connection and integration, data center connection, about the energy transition in Mediterranean region.
- Power System Resilience (4 papers) specifically on resilience improvement techniques and new technologies for transmission and distribution networks.
- RES challenges (4 papers) on RES production estimation and curtailments as well as on MV failures detections.
- Failures Detection and Protection (2 papers)
- Energy Storage (4 papers) discussing issues on technology, their optimal planning and siting and their participation in reserve markets.
- Asset Management and New Technologies (5 papers) laying out cutting-edge technologies on digital substations, energy management, switchgears, recycling and environment, and open-source software for system state estimation.
- Active Distribution Networks and Microgrids (4 papers) presenting flexibility and microgrid practical cases.
- NGN session (3 presentations) discussing energy transition for young engineers, developments in energy storage, and new approaches in transmission projects.
Additionally, two invited industry speakers were presented—one discussed grid forming technologies, while the other addressed the interoperability of IEC61850 protection systems.
During the conference Dr. Yannis KAMPOURIS, former Chair, was awarded for his exceptional contribution in the development of the Greek National Committee in the past 4-year. The sense of continuity and leadership was highlighted by the presence of five past Chairs of the CIGRE GNC—bringing the total to seven, together with the current Chair and the CIGRE President— (Fig. 2) making this gathering a truly historic moment for our community.
Figure 1 - The President of CIGRE Dr. Konstantin Papailiou addressing the Conference
Figure 2 - CIGRE GNC Chairs and the CIGRE President: Yannis Kampouris, Nikos Hatziargyriou, Markos Champakis, Konstantin Papailiou, George Georgantzis, Thanos Koronides (left to right)
On behalf of CIGRE Greece.
Prof. Nikos Hatziargyriou,
Chair of the Greek National Committee of CIGRE
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