The Electrical and Power Conference (EPEC) 2009 is focused on Sustainable / Renewable Energy Systems and Technologies which is one of the growth areas in energy worldwide. The conference is sponsored by IEEE Canada and also sponsored and organized by the IEEE Montreal and Ottawa Sections. These were the main sponsors of the 2007 conference.

The Electrical Power Symposia (EPS) started in 2001 addressing issues of deregulation in the electricity industry, which received a lot of attention because of the Ontario Government deregulation initiative at the time. As the EPS grew into an annual event, it focused on other aspects of the Ontario electricity situation, in particular the increasing debt and the widening gap between demand and supply, and, in 2004, on the tough choices facing Ontario, ranging from large-scale nuclear generation to demand management and distributed energy.

In 2005, the focus moved to general issues such as the convergence of power and high technologies. Five major areas of the convergence between the power and high technologies were showcased: communications, real-time applications, wide-area protection, smart metering, and automation in power systems. Due to the presence of the highly developed communication industry that made Ottawa known as the Silicon Valley North, the Symposium drew upon that world class expertise available in Ottawa, but also reached out and had several distinguished speakers from outside of Canada.

That approach of addressing the topics of wider interest and to have both Canadian and international speakers, was followed in 2006 as well. The crucial role of Distributed Generation and Smart Grids is increasingly getting recognition in the economy, energy, and environment, which form a basis for nation’s sustainability, security, and development. Since 2006 marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, the inventor of AC power system who also was a member of the IEEE predecessor - American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) - its Fellow, and Vice-President 1892-1894, the EPS 2006 was organized under the theme “From Tesla’s AC Power System to Distributed Generation and Smart Grids”.

The growing demand of Renewable and Alternative Energy Systems was addressed in 2007 when the symposium was renamed to Electrical Power Conference (EPC).

In the 2008 conference, for the first time the conference left the eastern Canada and was held in Vancouver, BC organized by the IEEE Vancouver Section. The theme was Energy Innovation discussing the extension of the limits of Transmission and distribution, the expansion of Generation and Alternative Energy, Intelligent Grid Technologies and Energy Efficient Technologies.

The list of themes of the conference

2009: Renewable/Sustainable Energy Systems and Technologies
2008: Energy Innovation
2007: Renewable and Alternative Energy Resources
2006: From Tesla’s AC Power System to Distributed Generation and Smart Grids
2005: Convergence of Power and High Technologies
2004: Ontario's Tough Electricity Choices
2003: Supply and Demand Challenges
2002: Tricks and Treats in Evolving Electricity Markets
2001: Electricity Deregulation (in Ontario)

The EPEC, former Electrical Power Symposia (EPS) clearly identified a need for a forum in which the information and ideas related to the Power and Energy Systems Engineering can be exchanged among the experts and professionals from the engineering and business communities, and general public. The upcoming Electrical Power conference 2009 will continue addressing this need.