by Hyder DoCarmo, OMICRON electronics Corp. USA
The VIII Symposium of Automation of Electrical Systems was held in the beautiful Barra da Tijuca section of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 9 - 14, 2009.
This CIGRE -sponsored biannual event was hosted by Light Serviços de Eletricidade S.A. and the Brazilian National Committee of Electrical Energy Production and Transmission. CIGRE committees B5 (Protection and Automation), C2 (System Operation and Control), and D2 (Information and Telecommunication Systems for Electrical Systems) provided invaluable support for this event.
Despite kicking off on Father's Day, the symposium welcomed 300 participants on opening night. Approximately 500 participants attended the week-long activities, which included three days of paper presentations by major Latin American utilities (including Brazil and Mexico), and by major protection and automation, and test equipment manufacturers. The technical paper presentation sessions covered a wide range of protection, control and automation topics: integration, implementation strategies, and testing of IEC 61850 systems; remote testing of protection and control IEDs; retrofit of existing protection, automation, and control systems; case studies in the migration from legacy automation systems to IEC 61850; Process Bus applications; automatic load shedding and system restoration; PMU applications for system supervision, control and operation; fault diagnostics; cyber security; and discussions on the impact of Smart Grid initiatives, among others.
The last two days of the VIII SIMPASE provided simultaneous tutorial courses on two hot topics in the power industry: IEC 61850 and Smart Grid applications in power systems. Both of these courses were well attended and delivered by established protection, automation, and control equipment manufacturers.
Additionally, the SIMPASE included an exhibit hall where major Brazilian electric utilities, international equipment manufacturers, and electric industry service providers' booths showed some of the latest news and technology for the whole duration of this very successful event.
Hyder DoCarmo has B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from Louisiana State University and Texas A&M University. He worked for Transocean Offshore Drilling, CenterPoint Energy, and for GE Multilin supporting utility and industrial protection applications. In 2008, Hyder joined OMICRON electronics as an Application Engineer. He is a Main Committee Member of the IEEE PSR Committee and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.
