LENA at the IEEE PES T&D 2026 in Chicago
The 2026 IEEE PES Transmission & Distribution Conference & Exposition took place from May 4–7, 2026, in Chicago, USA. Hosted at McCormick Place’s South Building, the 2026 edition highlighted the scale of the event, with more than 18,000 professionals, 933 exhibitors, and participants from 89 countries. IEEE PES T&D is one of the major international events in power and energy engineering, bringing together utilities, system operators, manufacturers, technology providers, researchers, and organizations involved in the reliability and modernization of transmission and distribution systems.
Contributions
João Pedro Scherer Cipriani represented the LENA Chair as a panelist in the session “Solutions to current stability and reliability challenges in the European interconnected system.” The panel was organized by Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Martin Wolter from TU Dresden, who also contributed to the session, and included presentations by Uwe Kaltenborn from HIGHVOLT Prüftechnik Dresden, Jacek Wasilewski from PSE Innowacje and Eric Sortomme from AspenTech. The joint participation reflected the continuing scientific connection between LENA at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and TU Dresden in the field of power-system stability and operation.
Figure 1: J. P. Scherer Cipriani during his presentation in the panel session.
João’s presentation, titled “Distributed Real-Time Simulation: Accurate IBR Models for Power System Analysis,” addressed his ongoing doctoral research on real-time co-simulation for converter-dominated power systems. Starting from recent European stability concerns, including the Iberian Peninsula blackout, the presentation emphasized the growing need for accurate IBR models, EMT-level validation, and simulation methods able to represent the interaction between converter controls, communication delays, and system-level dynamics. The proposed transmission-line-based coupling approach was discussed in this context, including the use of large equivalent distances not only as a demanding robustness case, but also as a practical issue for geographically distributed simulation, remote model integration, and industrial hardware-in-the-loop workflows.
Figure 2: Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. M. Wolter from TU Dresden during the shared panel session.
Conference Highlights
A recurring theme throughout the conference was the increasing pressure on transmission and distribution systems caused by rapid load growth, especially from data centers, and the associated “time-to-power” challenge for connecting new large consumers. This was strongly connected to broader discussions on inverter-based resource stability, EMT simulation, model validation, grid-forming technologies, and resilient power-system operation — topics closely aligned with current research at LENA.
During the conference, João had the opportunity to engage in technical exchanges with participants from reliability organizations, renewable-generation companies, protection and automation providers, and the EMT simulation community. These discussions addressed current challenges in model validation, compliance-oriented assessment of inverter-based plants, and the practical implementation of new technical requirements for converter-dominated power systems.
The event also provided an opportunity to meet Prof. Luciane Canha and Prof. Lucas Feksa from the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), both of whom had previously carried out work missions at LENA. This added a further institutional dimension to the participation, connecting the IEEE PES T&D activities with the broader UFSM–OVGU cooperation framework in electrical power engineering.
In addition to the technical sessions, the opening reception at The Old Post Office offered an informal setting for exchange in one of Chicago’s historic infrastructure landmarks, reminding of the city’s historical innovation background.
Figure 3: Reception at the Old Post Office. From the T&D website.
Acknowledgement
The LENA Chair would like to thank the IEEE PES T&D organizers, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Martin Wolter for organizing the panel session, the fellow panel contributors, and all participants involved in the technical exchanges during the conference. Participation in IEEE PES T&D 2026 provided valuable opportunities to present ongoing research, strengthen international connections, and relate LENA’s work on real-time simulation and inverter-dominated power systems to current challenges in power-system reliability and operation.