CIGRE Croatia – 16th Conference

The opening ceremony held on November 5th, 2023 was graced by CIGRE Secretary General Philippe Adam and CIGRE President Michele Augonnet, who sent a recorded welcome speech for this occasion. The special guest at the opening was the ambassador of France H.E. Fabien Fieschi with regard to the connection of the CIGRE national committees with the Paris CIGRE. At the opening, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development in the Government of the Republic of Croatia Mr. Ivo Milatic presented current events in the implementation of reforms in the electricity sector. A special guest was the envoy of the President of the Republic, Mr. Julije Domac, who gave an expert view on the green transition. The opening was also attended by a large number of presidents and board members of companies in Croatia operating in the electric power sector. In addition, representatives of the national committees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Serbia took part in the opening.

A record number of participants was achieved, most probable the biggest event in this region, almost 1,200 participants from Croatia and neighboring and other countries showed a great interest in the latest technological and conceptual achievements in the framework of the energy transition towards a low-carbon economy. It was especially highlighted that the President of the Republic of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, awarded the NC CIGRE Croatia with the Charter for exceptional contribution to the Croatian economy and the promotion of the Croatian economy in the energy sector and the development of the energy sector as an important segment of the Croatian economy. At the end of the ceremonial part, awards were traditionally given to deserving members of NC CIGRE Croatia.

On the first day of the session, a special lecture by the CEO of Siemens Energy, Mr. Boris Miljavac, was organized on the topic of future technologies, green transition and the path to a decarbonized future, as the technological sponsor of the session. This was followed by a panel discussion Technologies of the future, green transition and the path into a decarbonized future, in which Adam Middleton and Philippe Adam participated, among others. Next, there was a lecture by the president of the WiE section, Mrs. Laurie-Anne Clement Charpentier, on the topic of Energy Transition-Opportunities for Women as an incentive to the WiE NC CIGRE Croatia section.

The first day of the session is usually reserved for sponsor lectures, so we had opportunity to learn about new technological achievements by Hitachi Energy, GE Vernova, Dalekovod d.d. and Končar elektroindustrija d.d. In the part reserved for the presentation of books and publications that have been issued since the last session in the field of electrical engineering, two books, “General System Theory” and “Basics of Electrical Engineering” were presented this year, and a lecture was held on the Smart Greed Green Switch project co-financed by European funds. In the working part of the session, the sessions of all 16 study committees were organized with a total of about 200 peer-reviewed papers. At this 16th Session of NC CIGRE Croatia an exhibition part was organized, in which a total of 45 exhibitors participated in a special part of the congress center. Companies exhibited not only from Croatia, but also from Poland, Austria, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

NC CIGRE Croatia had its own stand in the exhibition area where it displayed the previous editions of the Journal of Energy, which it has been publishing since 1952. Also on display was the NC CIGRE Croatia monograph, which describes the beginnings of electrification in Croatia and the beginning of CIGRE’s activities in Croatia, from 1952. The monograph also describes all recent events, from the activities of NC CIGRE Croatia after being accepted into the large CIGRE family, then activities in SEERC, and all conferences organized by NC CIGRE Croatia are described. One copy of the monograph, although it was printed in Croatian, was given to Mr. Adam Philippe for the archive at CIGRE International in Paris.