Welcome Reception

Monday, October 26

5:30 – 7:30 PM

Sponsored by AECOM

Tuesday Reception

Tuesday, October 27

6 – 10 PM

Sponsored by Dominion Energy

Sponsor Table Hours

Monday, October 26 | @5 – 7pm

Tuesday, October 27 | @8am – 5pm

Wednesday, October 28 | @8am – 5pm

Please contact Sharon Loe with any questions or call our office at (979) 845-7912, thank you!

2026 Tours/Tutorials

To close out the week, we offer a variety of Tours/Tutorials on Thursday, October 29. These sessions provide valuable learning and networking opportunities following the main conference.

All Tours/Tutorials have an additional cost and require registration!

Details on these events will be posted below. Stay tuned!!

Tour: Dominion Energy's High Voltage Laboratory and Mobile Equipment Facility
Thursday, October 29 | 7:45AM - 12:00PM

Description: 

High Voltage Laboratory at Dominion Energy Locks Campus in Petersburg, VA
Step inside one of the nation’s most advanced and newest high-voltage testing environments and see how modern transmission systems are validated, analyzed, and improved. This exclusive technical tour offers attendees a firsthand look at Dominion Energy’s High Voltage Laboratory, a specialized facility designed for testing and failure analysis of equipment rated up to 765 kV.  Participants will observe how controlled electrical tests, including AC, DC, lightning impulse, and switching impulse, are applied to replicate real-world and extreme grid conditions. These tests provide critical insight into insulation integrity, dielectric performance, and equipment withstand capability under both steady-state and transient scenarios, ensuring designs meet rigorous industry standards before deployment.  This is a unique opportunity to engage with the technologies and processes that underpin a safer, more resilient power grid.

Dominion Energy’s Mobile Equipment Facility near Richmond, VA (close proximity to Richmond International Airport)
Dominion Energy’s mobile storage facility near Richmond is a critical facility supporting transmission reliability and emergency restoration. The mobile equipment fleet housed within this facility is well-positioned to respond to system needs and plays a vital role in maintaining reliable grid operations.  You will have an opportunity to see some of Dominion Energy’s specialized mobile equipment including 230/115 kV transformers and 230 kV GIS breakers which are equipped with a quick-connect cable design for rapid field deployment.

*Transportation will be provided. An optional drop off at the Richmond International Airport will be available around 11:30AM for attendees needing to catch a flight.*

Reframing IBR Fault Response: The End of Protection by Modeling and a Return to First Principles
Thursday, October 29 | 8:00AM - 12:00PM

Description: The behavior of inverter-based resources (IBRs) during faults remains one of the most pressing challenges in modern power systems. Despite extensive research and active standardization work across national, regional, and international organizations, progress has been slow. Protection engineers continue to face uncertainty, as IBR fault response varies widely across technologies and implementations. Today, utilities rely heavily on detailed modeling and simulation to design protection systems for networks with IBRs. Yet even small adjustments to IBR control algorithms, such as firmware updates or user selectable control settings, can undermine these protection schemes and force costly reengineering. Although this model-centric approach was once unavoidable, it cannot support a reliable and scalable industry path forward.

This tutorial explains how we arrived at the current situation and why existing approaches to IBR fault response standardization fall short. It then outlines practical, high-level requirements that any successful IBR fault response standard must satisfy. From there, the tutorial shows how simpler, more realistic IBR fault-response requirements can resolve the issue and allow traditional protection principles to remain effective. Simulation studies and relay test results demonstrate that such an approach is both feasible for IBR manufacturers and compatible with legacy protection systems. These examples illustrate that the industry can move away from reliance on complex custom models and toward a stable, predictable, and easily enforceable IBR behavior standard.

The tutorial speakers have hands-on experience in power system protection, inverter modeling and design, standardization, and regulatory oversight.

Potential Roles of Energy Storage in Electric Power Systems
Thursday, October 29 | 9:00AM - 11:00AM

Description: The tutorial provides an overview of the various types of energy storage as they continue to evolve, including how different forms of energy storage can be applied, the issues they address, and the problems they encounter.  It also presents examples of energy storage experiences, the main factors in selecting energy storage, and a glimpse into future developments.