e-News for power industry leaders

Dear Reader,

With this last edition for 2020 we come to an end for what has been a challenging year for many members.  The lockdowns, isolation, restrictions and uncertainty have proved challenging not only for our own members but of course for many in our broader global CIGRE family.  Whilst vaccines are now being made available, the true effect of these has yet to be seen and the impacts of the pandemic seem far from over with recent breakouts in Victoria, South Australia and now Sydney demonstrating how quickly things can change.

CIGRE has not gone untouched, with our own local events; Transformer workshop, CIDER and SEAPAC being postponed or reviewed and many of you would be aware of the biennial Paris Session being run as an e-event only this year in August 2020.

There have been some benefits with all of us learning that maybe we can actually meet remotely and conduct at least some of our business from home and maybe save some travelling time at least.

However, a key benefit of CIGRE is the relationships and global networks that are formed and information that is shared, which is why we are all looking forward to being able to host and attend physical events again as soon as practicable.

In that vein, the 2020 postponed Transformer workshop is scheduled for March 17th 2021 at the  Grand Hyatt Melbourne and we have booked the Stamford Grand at Glenelg in Adelaide -  November 2nd and 3rd for our CIDER renewables event.   We would like to run a physical SEAPAC probably later during 2021 and will be reviewing likely dates early in the year.

Whilst it is still some way off,  in early 2021, we will step up the planning and organising process for the Cairns  4-7th Sept 2023 Symposium and already have six global Study Committees indicating they will attend and hold their annual meetings there.  The event will be held at the Cairns Convention Centre. 

For reference, all our event information is available on our web site HERE  

The first two articles in this edition are a summary of Technical Brochure TB 797 Sheath bonding systems of AC transmission cables and WG.B3.45. TB 802: Applications of Non-SF6 Gases or Mixtures in Medium and High Voltage Gas Insulated Switchgear. 

Then, to round out the year this edition has an article written by our Technical Editor - Phil Southwell, which summarises and references the impact that COVID-19 has had around the globe in CIGRE member countries.   The content of Phil's article comes from several areas, including articles that have been published in the members only magazine - Electra.

ELECTRA is the bi-monthly CIGRE members magazine which presents technically robust, real world analysis and globally diverse perspectives.  It contains expert articles and thought leadership on many of the issues affecting the global power system today, presented objectively.

I remind readers that all In the Loop editions can be found on our website HERE and that although not being able to run our usual physical events,  our Young Engineer group has been hosting a series of monthly technical webinars presented by subject experts.  These and our annual Technical summary from each of our sixteen technical panels are available on our You Tube Channel here.

In closing out this last issue of ITL for 2020, I would like to acknowledge the work of all of our contributors over 2020 and in particular the co-ordination and editorial work of our Technical editor Phil Southwell. 

As always if you have any requests for specific topics or suggestions for ITL, please contact us at enquiries@cigreaustralia.org.au  or (07) 3310 8838

From all of us at CIGRE - Stay safe, have a great Festive season and we wish you and your families all the best for 2021.

Best Regards

Technical Editor - Phil Southwell

 ================================