This annual event was held in Delft, The Netherlands, from 22 to 25 June 2026.
This was the first time the conference was hosted at the TU Delft Aula Congress Centre, one of Europe’s leading engineering and technology universities. The conference attracted protection, automation and control specialists from utilities, manufacturers, consultants, research organizations and universities from countries around the world.
The conference was preceded on Monday afternoon by a half-day tutorial on “Digital Transformation of the Electric Power”, presented by Dr. Alexander Apostolov (USA) and Florian Fink (OMICRON electronics, Austria).
The tutorial and conference registration were followed by the traditional Welcome Reception, held at the historic Delft City Hall in the center of the city. The reception provided an excellent opportunity for participants to renew existing professional relationships and establish new contacts before the technical program began.
The conference officially opened on Tuesday morning with welcoming remarks by Dr. Alexander Apostolov, followed by the keynote address from Prof. Marjan Popov of TU Delft entitled “Towards Resilient and Intelligent Grids: Synchrophasor-based and AC-DC Protection & Applications – Insights from TU Delft.”
The technical program included two and a half days of paper presentations covering the latest developments in power system protection, automation, communications, cybersecurity and digital substations. More than fifty technical papers from authors representing all continents were presented in multiple sessions. Every session concluded with an interactive discussion period, encouraging active participation and exchange of practical experience between presenters and attendees. Major topics included IEC 61850 engineering, digital substations, wide-area protection, virtualization, process bus, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, communication technologies, renewable integration, testing and commissioning, and future protection concepts.
Following the technical sessions on Tuesday afternoon, participants attended the traditional PAC Demo Hour+ in the exhibition area. The extended exhibition hours allowed attendees to interact with experts from leading manufacturers and experience demonstrations of the latest protection, automation, testing, communication and cybersecurity solutions. The Thursday morning program featured the highly popular Interactive Session – Ask the Experts. Conference participants raised questions during the session, resulting in lively discussions on emerging technologies, practical engineering challenges and future trends in protection, automation and control. Throughout the event coffee breaks and lunches were held in the exhibition area, providing additional opportunities for networking while visiting exhibitors presenting the latest protection relays, digital substation technologies, communication systems, testing equipment and software tools.
The conference gala dinner took place on Wednesday evening in the magnificent Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) in the historic center of Delft. The evening combined excellent food, entertainment and the awards ceremony for the annual PAC World Photo Competition, providing a memorable social event and allowing participants to strengthen professional relationships in an informal atmosphere.
