São Paulo, Brazil hosted the second IEEE/PES conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technology Latin America (IEEE ISGT LA) April, 13-17.

The conference drew 293 attendees from Latin America and other countries such as the USA, South Africa, South Korea, Germany, Canada, Portugal and Trinidad and Tobago. The well-planned diversity of panel sessions, papers and poster presentations offered the attendees a great opportunity to discuss the current trends and needs for the Smart Grid development in Latin America.

The technical program covered during the three days embraced many excellent topics: Distributed and Renewable Resources, Electric vehicles, Telecommunication, Microgrids, Regulation, Deployment experiences, and Cyber Security. Those gave the attendees an idea of the trends of smart grids in Latin America and, indeed the world.

According to Nelson Kagan, conference Chair,“ The conference offered the opportunity to overview what utilities envisage as Smart Solutions for their problems and challenges as well as the new trends in R&D, products and services available in the market.”

PES lecturers presented the IEEE Initiatives in Smart Grid and the status of the PES Smart Grid Roadmap. Latin American experts and utility senior managers demonstrated their deployment initiatives and also future actions for accomplishing their goals.A Woman In Engineering  (WIE) session was organized by the IEEE South Brazil Section WIE Committee. Maria Tereza Vellano, Technology and Services Director from AES Eletropaulo, one of the largest power distribution companies in Brazil, was invited to give the keynote speech. Ms. Vellano presented, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of her company’s project on Smart Grids.

The PES Student Participation in Regional Conferences Initiative distributed grants for 23 students from other countries in Latin America to attend the conference. The students had the opportunity to meet with PES ExCom members and prepared a list of actions to improve the PES Student Activities in the Region.

The patrons of conference displayed new developments in their respective exhibits and satellite sessions.

This comprehensive approach that involved professionals, electric utilities, industry, research workers and students resulted in a very intensive and productive experience for all attendees.