Australian Board Member - Mr. Phil Southwell was elected to the Global CIGRE Steering committee over the weekend.

Globally, many market and transmission operators are facing new challenges that are reshaping the way we manage our energy systems. This includes: • Changes in generation mix • Decreases in conventional generation • Increases in renewable and distributed generation • Environmental and regulatory policy changes

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic CIGRE has postponed its 2020 signature Paris event to 2021. In the interim a unique digital e-session will run in 2020.

Four long term Australian CIGRE members have received Distinguished member status from the global governing body.

CIGRE has announced the recipients of its biennial scholarship for young engineers to attend the Paris Session later this year.

The Paris Central Office is offering an incentive to small start up companies to exhibit at this years Paris Session 48 in August 2020.

CIGRE is very pleased to be able to confirm two Industry experts to deliver the KeyNote Addresses at its upcoming DER CIDER Conference 20th and 21st August in Melbourne

CIGRE central office is now calling for Synopses submissions for people interested in having a paper accepted to the CIGRE Paris 2020 Session

The Annual CIGRE Transformer Workshop and the Techcon Conference are getting closer and interest has been growing. These events attract regional and international Transformer expertise and are a great opportunity to discuss current issues and practices in the Transformer related area.

The CIGRE board and management will present a summary of CIGRE's work and benefits of membership in a free seminar to be held at the Western Power's offices in Perth.

CIGRE Australia recently awarded a grant to Judith Marks to attend the inaugural Transformer Innovation Centre (TIC) workshop on managing the lifecycle of Power Transformers at the UQ facility in Brisbane.

CIGRE is now offering free membership for all classes of membership to the end of 2017. Pay for a 2018, twelve month membership and get the remainder of this year free. (15 months)

Following a very high level of interest and submissions, 24 quality presentations have been selected to be discussed at CIDER 17.

CIGRE Australia's NGN has released its' June 2017 Update

Study Committee B3 (Substations) annual report has been published in the June edition of CIGRE's magazine - ELECTRA.

A Workshop on Low Cost Substation and Transmission Solutions was held during the week of March 13 to 17, 2017 at the Eskom Research and Innovation Center in Johannesburg, South Africa. The workshop was part of the efforts of CIGRE’s Working Group B3.43 “Contemporary Substation Design for Developing Countries”, (Convened by Australian member Perry Tonking) to provide technical guidance to support developing countries in securing access to an affordable, reliable and sustainable energy supply that is vital to end extreme poverty and promote economic prosperity.

Protection of embedded generation and microgrids is one of the focus areas at SEAPAC 17 - Melbourne 14,15 March SEAPAC 17 features 39 technical papers on a variety protection, automation and control topics, presented by local and international experts. Included in this quality programme are a number of papers on the hot topic of the protection of embedded generation and microgrids.

CIGRE Australia is proud to present “Transformers - Dealing with the Unforeseen- an interactive workshop”.

The Victorian Government recently undertook a world-first trial to demonstrate the capabilities of a range of fully optimised Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiter (REFCL) technologies in reducing bushfire risk as a result of powerline faults or breakages. Some of the results of the trial are very encouraging and the technology looks set to help address this crucial issue. At SEAPAC 17 a number of papers are being presented by a suite of international and local experts on the wider subject

Paris has issued the call for papers for the 2018 Paris Session 47. The 2016 Session saw over 400 papers presented with 3290 delegates. A great opportunity to contribute to a world audience of experts. Closing date is 9th June 2017

During the Paris Session, Perry (CEO of Kiribati Public Utilities Board) and Natalie Tonking organised and ran a raffle in aid of the children attending the Kiribati School and Centre for Children with Special Needs.

CIGRE Australia's young engineer group (NGN) have had a busy 2015, which has seen membership grow to 230. During the year they have hosted their first full day seminar, run 3 webcasts and a panel session at CIDER 2015, as well as begun to become active in the CIGRE Technical panels. They aim to be busier in 2016 targeting more webinars, another NGN seminar and helping run the NGN stand at the 2016 Paris Session

CIGRE Australia and the Pacific Power Association have agreed a reciprocal membership which will give both organisations access to each others extensive databases and networks.