The ERIAC, or Encuentro Regional Ibero-americano del CIGRÉ in Spanish, is a truly international event, and CIGRÉ's most important seminar held in its Ibero-American region ("RIAC").  Since 1987, the ERIAC has been held biannually in the Iguassu region of South America, overlapping Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. This location is not only attractive for its natural beauty (the famous Iguassu Falls), but also allows a convenient rotation of the event between three sponsor countries.  The Iguassu region is also home of the impressive ITAIPU BINACIONAL power plant, which produces the largest output of hydroelectric power in the world today.  In 2008, ITAIPU achieved its generating record of 94.68 billion kWh.

The XIII ERIAC, held on May 23-28 in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, was sponsored by Centro de Investigación de Grandes Redes Eléctricas Asociación Civil, which is the National Committee of CIGRÉ in Argentina, and had support from the National Committees of the current RIAC members Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Venezuela.

Approximately 450 participants from Latin America and Europe attended this year's conference.  Sixteen CIGRÉ technical committees met in various technical sessions, covering a variety of current power system topics and issues, including: emergence of alternative energy resources; state-of-the-art testing and real-time diagnostics techniques for power system apparatus; substation automation; IEC 61850 based power system protection and control applications; IED interoperability; information & telecommunication system applications in power systems; impact of distributed generation on power system planning and regulations, among others.  An excess of 300 papers were presented by major utilities, manufacturers, and academia from the Americas and Europe, at the technical sessions or as poster presentations. 

The ExpoERIAC, or "Exhibition of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Energy - Technologies, Equipment and Services" was held in parallel with the technical sessions.  This exposition was sponsored and set up by manufacturers, utilities, and consulting and services firms with the intent of displaying state-of-the art equipment and services that meet the challenges presented by today's power systems.             

The "Forum of Nations", one of ERIAC's major events, aimed at promoting exchange between specialists and technicians from the electricity sector of Latin American and Europe, with joint working groups discussing common themes and exchanging information. 

The ERIAC closed with a paper awards ceremony and technical tours to ITAIPU BINACIONAL hydroelectric power plant and FURNAS 600kV HVDC converter station.  ITAIPU consists of 20 generators and 14 GW of installed capacity (second only to China's Three Gorges Dam), supplying over 19% of the Brazilian energy demand and 87% of the Paraguayan demand.    Half of the generators produce power at 50Hz, requiring the FURNAS HVDC station to convert power to 60Hz before it is consumed in Brazil.