The IEEE PES T & D Conference and Exposition was held in Chicago, Illinois from 21 to 24 April 2008. It brings together power-delivery professionals with many different areas of specialization, including transmission and distribution planning, protection and control, substation engineering, distribution automation, communications, renewable energy, operations, and maintenance. The McCormick Place was the conference venue. This conference provides a forum for discussions of a wide range of topics related to the present and future of our industry.

The technical program was designed to address the concerns of the industry and the impact of new technical and business solutions that support the operation and maintenance of the electric transmission and distribution system at peak levels, while maintaining the required reliability and security under maximum load and dynamic system conditions.

One of the goals of the conference was to help the industry with their need to educate young engineers in the fundamentals of electric power technologies and the application of new communications based intelligent devices and systems.

The conference program was divided in several different types of sessions, covering a wide range of topics, many related to electric power systems protection, automation and control:

• Tutorial Sessions
• Education Track
• Super Session
• Panel Sessions
• Poster Sessions
• Exhibitor Info Sessions

In parallel with the conference the attendees visited the exhibition hall and discussed with participating experts the latest solutions available to meet the requirements of utilities and industrial facilities.

Technical tours to the Twin Groves wind farm, Argonne National Laboratory, ComEd's West Loop substation and Operations Control Center (OCC) demonstrated real-life applications of advances technology.

The Conference Reception was held at the Museum of Science & Industry and gave the participants an opportunity not only to enjoy the exhibits, but also to network and exchange ideas about the future of our industry with colleagues from around the world.